Silver City
by Haydos271
Summary: "Trapped here...for three years?" Angela didn't expect Ratchet back in her life so soon, but when he returns six months after the Protopet adventure, he brings bad luck in the form of a lockdown over Silver City.
1. A New Home

_Chapter 1: A New Home_

Silver City. It was six months after the Megacorp scandal and nothing had changed inside the city, except that the streets were free to its people instead of being taken over by Thugs-4-Less. The skies were cloudy, and mostly a mix of orange and grey, and since the problem with Megacorp (which somehow weaseled its way out of trouble) an apartment building had been finished where a construction site was which the famous Ratchet had grinded on.

A tiny Worm-droid rode the elevator from the underground highway along with a group of other people who came from the highway. One was a tall green man with antennas poking out of his short black hair, and he wore denim clothes with a brown belt, his whole body covered with a long black coat. He was holding a magenta umbrella by his side which attracted attention, but he ensured the others that he lost his umbrella and had to use his sister's.

The Worm-droid eyed him off the most because he was standing alone because everyone was creeped out by the umbrella and moved away. The Worm-droid looked like a normal worm, but was a little bigger and had metallic black skin, with a fleshy hole surrounded with green pincers for a mouth (with tiny eyes above it), and had lime green stripes swirling over its body. The man with the magenta umbrella noticed the little droid looking at him and he smiled before looking back into space, waiting for the elevator to rise.

The Worm-droid looked around the elevator and it's occupants in awe, wondering what it would be like to be a humanoid, and be able to walk around the world. His eyes were suddenly filled with light and an orange sky came into his view, and soon he realised the elevator had arrived at the surface, and everyone, including the man he eyed off, started walking to the waiting Hovertaxi to take them to the city.

Tiny wheels popped out of the Worm-droid's underside and he skidded off the pale blue elevator behind the other people of many species, and skidded along the ground, quickly jumping into the just before it took off. He accidentally landed in the lap of the same man that he had been attracted to, and quickly rode off the smirking person, sitting down next to an occupied seat.

The Worm-droid squished in between the other person on the adjacent seat and watched as the taxi started moving and he jumped onto the back of it, looking at a crowd of people who patiently waited for another taxi to quickly and arrive, and four more of the people he had seen on the elevator sat in their respective places and rode off out of sight. The Worm-droid turned back around and the face of a Markazian baby looking at him, giggling.

"I see your baby is attracted to that little Worm-droid that's making his way home." The man who was placing his magenta umbrella in front of him spoke to a Markazian with long auburn hair who was holding her baby in front of her, but was staring blankly at the city. She was distracted by the man she had never met before, and looked at him, and then noticed that he was staring behind her.

"I see." She spoke with a soft voice which was still easily audible as she turned to see her baby trying to grab the Worm-droid. "Kyra, stop it." She pulled her baby to the other side, causing Kyra to get fascinated with the passing buildings as they moved through the inner city and buildings. The woman smiled as Kyra started drooling in awe, and quickly wiped her mouth, before turning back to the man.

"I wonder why this Worm-droid looks different to most of them." The man spoke once again. His voice was deep and dark, but still a gentle and friendly tone to it. "Most of them are usually red in colour, but this one seems black with a little lime green." The woman nodded and looked at the Worm-droid, and was struck with the same question as the man she recently met.

"Maybe worm-droid different." Both the man and the woman were distracted by a belchy voice, and they turned to the front to see a female blue Tyhrranoid grabbing onto the top of the seat to see the Worm-droid, as she had been listening to the conversation. The man was surprised to see a friendly Tyhrranoid, and one that was able to speak a little of their language.

"You speak our language?" asked the man, putting his finger near the Worm-droid and waiting for it to crawl onto his finger, and then turning his body to the front.

"Little bit. Still learner." The Tyhrranoid spoke again, and although she spoke badly, both of the others were able to understand her. The Tyhrranoid was completely naked like most Tyhrranoids, except she wore a small green skirt and a straw hat with a pink flower attached. The unnamed woman was wearing a tight orange dress running down to the knees, and had a cute white hat which she wasn't wearing at the time, revealing her short shoulder-length fiery hair. Her eyes were a little thin, and it looked like she was sneering at everything, but that was actually her friendly expression.

"So…where are you two ladies headed?" asked the man, trying to gain a small opportunity. The Worm-droid AI told it that he was obviously trying to pick up these two women, no matter if they were different species.

"Well," began the mother of Kyra. "I am heading to the Clock Tower, because I hear there is a political debate going on with a man trying to win ownership of the galaxy. I don't even know who the Galactic President of the Bogon Galaxy is! That tells you how much I know of this galaxy, because I was born in Polaris, but raised in Solana!"

"Really?" asked the man, shifting his attention away from the Tyhrranoid. "I'm going to the Clock Tower to see the political debate as well!" The woman scoffed in disbelief, and was staring at the man, wondering if he was romantic.

"Me going Clock Tower," said the Tyhrranoid, making the man wonder the odds of three passengers on a Hovertaxi going to the same place.

"I heard that…" the woman began to say before the man stopped listening, waiting for a chance to speak again. He waited anxiously, but the two women kept chatting away and never let him get a sound in. The Worm-droid looked at the man who looked embarrassed, and then checked his internal processing. Soon, a readout popped out saying "Idiot Level – High", and the Worm-droid changed into "laugh mode".

"Hey!" yelled the man to the Worm-droid, which was literally rolling on the floor laughing, but it didn't even shift the two women's attention. The whole ride to the Clock Tower took forever to the man, but too short to the two chatty women, but the Worm-droid had not sense of impatience. The three people with nothing in common (except the same destination) left the taxi, but the Worm-droid stayed and made a weird, whirring noise indicating that he was happy when the man waved to him as the taxi rode off again with three new passengers.

* * *

><p>It took a few hours until a passenger finally stopped off at the apartment building which was just a construction site six months earlier. The Worm-droid hopped off the taxi and raced towards the door, and then waited patiently for the passenger to enter the building. The Worm-droid followed and then saw that the passenger was checking into a room and waited on the sofa nearby for them to go up the elevator.<p>

Finally, after a few minutes reading the cover of Reader's Digested someone had left out, the passenger grabbed their keycard and moved toward the elevator. The Worm-droid quickly popped its wheels out again and then quickly raced to the elevator. However, its speed was too fast and it hit the elevator door just before it was opened, and then slowly crawled through.

The person inside the elevator commanded it to go to the 9th floor, but the Worm-droid only needed to go to the 6th floor. He quickly moved backwards and then drove towards the wall and then sped up it, slowing down on the button with the number "6" and jumped over to hit it just before he fell to the ground. The elevator stopped, jumping the Worm-droid up enough so it could flip over and get back on its wheels.

The door opened and a Blarg entered, and the Worm-droid quickly rode out the elevator and raced the hallways, passing many doors and even an open one with a kissing couple, and then reached one with a sign on it. It said "Weapons Designing Facility – No Entry". The Worm-droid stood in front of it and soon, a camera popped out above it and scanned the Worm-droid, before disappearing and the door opened, allowing the Worm-droid to go through. The first thing it saw was a black office chair with a velvet cushion underneath, and sitting upon it was Angela Cross.

Angela was sitting at a desk at the back of the tiny apartment, with a door leading to the bathroom next to it. She was holding a Holo-pen and a metallic ruler, and was drawing up a design for a new weapon. On the left wall was a mirror on a table with drawers filled with make-up and jewellery, a Holo-vision and a tiny kitchen desk, and finally a closet containing one thing, Angela's thief costume. There was a silver couch in the middle of the room facing the Holo-vision, and on the back wall was giant window looking out to the blue sea, covered by an orange sky, trailing off to grey in the distance.

Angela turned to the opening door, and smiled as she saw her pet Worm-droid wheeling into the apartment, dancing around in joy. She then turned to the window to the left of her and looked out, staring at the peaceful blue sea, and then noticing a tiny green island raised high above sea level which looked like an oasis missing its desert, bearing palm trees and even a hot spring.

Angela had been living in the apartment for over five months, just after her adventure with Ratchet and Clank. Megacorp had noticed that her being employed there was giving Megacorp a bad name, as no-one in the Bogon Galaxy knew of Captain Qwark and immediately blamed the closest person there, which was Angela. But since Abercrombie Fizzwidget (CEO of Megacorp) was kind and didn't want one of his best scientists to leave, he placed her officially under a permanent sick leave and she secretly worked for them at her home, designing new weapons for the facility on Todano.

She had found her new job designing weapons and tools at home a change, but due to her amazing imagination and knowledge, she was doing very well and Fizzwidget had even given her a raise. However, she found her home on Grelbin constantly under attack from Y.E. and Arctic Leviathans that she decided to move to Silver City, closer to Todano and on her first day there she bought a Worm-droid from a weird old lady at a shady market.

Everyday, she stayed in her home working on new weapons, one which was rumoured to be taken in as a main weapon for an elite squad of soldiers. However, once the sky finally started getting orange and her Worm-droid (affectionately named Wormy) finally made its way home, she would stop her work and go for a jog through the city, but today she was too busy working on a new masterpiece that she couldn't be bothered to go for a jog.

After working hard, her heart was being pounded by a hammer controlled by a blacksmith, and she could barely stand up. Finally she slumped over to the tiny kitchen and poured a cup of coffee into a sky blue mug that said "Angela" in big googly letters. She picked up the kettle and uncontrollably shook it as she moved it over her mug and then tried to pour it, but much of the coffee spilled on the desk and her hand, burning it, so she quickly put it down and ran to the tap.

After running cold water over her hand, she noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was frizzier than an afro, and then decided that she should jog outside after all. Quickly, she grabbed her comb off her make-up table and combed her yellow, furry hair, and then drank the little bit of coffee that managed to get into the mug, before running into her bathroom and changing into a red tank top and white shorts.

Angela picked up her Holo-player and put the headphones to her ears, before turning it on and playing her favourite Courtney Gears song, and then opened the door to the apartment and ran out through the hallway towards the elevator on the left. She entered and saw that no-one was inside, and then pressed a button, telling it to go to the ground floor, and then heard a little robotic squeak.

She looked down and saw that Wormy had entered the elevator as well to join her jog, and before she could smile the elevator stopped and the door opened. There was a handsome Novalian at the reception desk, who was currently dating Angela and was talking a tiny Factory Robot from Notak who had retired and was now deciding to live in Silver City, and had a tiny suitcase next to him. He couldn't understand what the robot was saying, but thankfully had a translator so he could answer its questions.

"Hey, Angela! Bit late for your jog aren't you?" he yelled as he saw her emerging from the elevator, and the Factory Robot turned to her as well and showed no signs of emotion. The man heard Angela say "Hey, Chet! I'm close to a breakthrough!" while still running, and he smiled at her as she exited the door. Chet then turned back to the Factory Robot who was quickly checking through his suitcase.

Angela shut the door, and then immediately turned, standing on the wide marble path gazing out at the still orange sky, and hoped that it wouldn't turn grey soon. She saw a Terachnoid getting into a Hovertaxi and leaving, then started jogging forward and then turned to the left and ran down a narrow marble path that wasn't visible to Wormy when he came from the taxi he was in.

Angela jogged uncontrollably down the sloping path, but didn't fight the momentum and instead worked with it until she reached the part where it turned level. Wormy had a built-in Holo-player that only he could hear and then turned it on, playing a song that gave him momentum. He danced around, jumping on the small white marble wall running along the sides, but still kept up with Angela as they eventually left the island and ran along the water.

Angela stopped and picked up Wormy, checking the song that was playing inside him, and then uploaded it quickly to her Holo-player and played it with him. They continued running and dancing around peacefully, glad that they alone and nothing was embarrassing them. Unfortunately the song stopped very quickly, so she continued with her less energising Courtney Gears songs. Soon after, a robotic skinny woman came jogging her way, and she stopped at the sight of Angela.

"Angela!" she yelled, and Angela realised that her friend, Doris, was jogging as well and saw her nearby. She stopped her Holo-player and walked over to her robotic friend.

"Hey, Doris! I haven't seen you ages!" Angela noticed that Doris' black hair had been cut shorter, and was now tied into a bun. Doris was wearing a cold blue tank top like Angela and had white silk shorts, and was wearing a pedometer on the side of her body. They kept jogging in the spot as they talked. "I see you have got a new haircut!"

"Yeah, I did!" She said, her voice clunking a little. "Excuse me, I've got to get a voice motor repair soon. So, how is Wormy?" She bent down to the Wormy who was still dancing to his music, and didn't notice Doris face, which to him was scary. Her orange eyes moved back up with her body as she lifted up to look at Angela again.

"He's fine. For some reason, he's been really enjoying himself lately," said Angela, stopping her jogging and trying to catch her breath. "I don't know why he's different to all the other Worm-droids I've seen. Maybe he's special like me!" Doris smiled, and then checked the time. "Yeah, it getting a bit late isn't, Doris? I better run!" Doris started to move again and waved to Angela as she ran off. It was good to be in Silver City, but her opinion would change very quickly…


	2. Lockdown

_Chapter 2: Lockdown_

Angela turned her Holo-player back on and continued, getting close to the main island filled with many of the main buildings. She and Wormy suddenly disappeared from the path, hidden behind two buildings on the edge of the shore, and soon she came to a large square made of marble, with stalls, and blankets of items, and many people walking through looking at all the stuff.

"Hey, Wormy!" hushed Angela, leaning to him. "I haven't shown you the markets, yet, have I?" Wormy was a little scared about exploring a new area, because the only places he had seen were the apartment building, the Hovertaxi's, the jogging path and the highways he spent his time during the day. However, he still kept himself brave and proudly "drove" through the stalls with Angela.  
>Angela turned the Holo-player off and was then able to hear the loud chattering of the people at the markets, hearing occasional laughing and crying, or people dropping some of their food or stuff, and smiled because it felt good to be a part of normal life. It was at this time she wished that she had never been stuck as a thief trying to save the galaxy from an unstoppable attack on Bogon.<p>

"Hey, Angela!" yelled a plump man wearing a chef hat inside a little stall selling all sorts of hotdogs or meat products from all over the galaxy, including some exotic meats which either tasted perfect or awful depending on the consumer's taste buds. Angela heard the booming voice, and turned to see the man, his black hair hidden under the hat. He was cutting some meat for a customer who rudely snatched the meat and walked off, but he didn't mind as he had been given a little bit more money than asked.

"Selling meat in a stall again, Eric?" asked Angela, casually strolling over to him, leaning on the edge beside a customer who didn't get angry for her butting in and just guessed that she was a friend. Eric gave her an unamused look, making Angela grin madly, and then heard some electronic pop music in the background and turned around to see that Wormy was searching for the song in the database.

"It's not a stall. It's a miniature portable butcher shop." Angela was distracted by Eric's answer to her rhetorical question, and then nodded sarcastically, otherwise to mean "same thing". "So, how have you been lately, Angela?" He was cutting more meat for a little boy waiting in line for some meat to eat, and Angela realised that he was poor as she heard Eric tell him to pay him back as soon as he could. Eric had sold meat to the little boy for a long time, and didn't even him to pay him, but the boy insisted that he paid for what he asked for, so he just put him in an "eternal debt" that he didn't care about.

"Well," began Angela, turning her head around as she watched the boy gratefully and carefully grab the meat and slowly walk away, feeling guilty about taking food that he didn't pay for. "Life has been fairly still. Still making weapons." She prevented herself from talking about Megacorp, because of the customers around. "Ever since that horror with the Protopet, no-one's life has been the same. I'm no exception."

"Well, mine has changed for the better." Eric finished cutting up a huge load of meat for a trouble farmer, and noticed that the line was getting shorter and the sky was getting darker. "Due to the fear, people have been afraid to go to other planets and so they buy all their stuff the markets. Anyway, it's getting dark. I better close soon." Angela got her head off the counter which she was resting on and looked up the sky, seeing the grey part of sky rolling in. She looked down and saw that Wormy was listening to one of his favourite songs on his database and was spinning around wildly.

"I better go," said Angela, checking her Holo-watch. "See ya." Her goodbye was returned with only a smile as Eric was having a conversation with an elderly lady asking for a special kind of meat. Wormy noticed Angela was leaving and followed her slowly, as they left the markets through the way they came, passing by a muscular brown alien. The darkness came very quickly as the sky was covered in grey, and Angela was walking on the path across the dark sea, listening to her Holo-player.

Slowly, she walked and seemed to be disconnected from the world around, not noticing anyone or noticing the darkness, and Wormy was a little worried about her, and then realised Angela was listening to a depressing song which made him start getting depressed as well. Eventually, they started walking uphill and reached back to the entrance of the apartment building, and noticed it was locked to visitors, but because she had a keycard, she typed in the numbers on it and the door opened for her.

She slowly walked into the dark reception room and saw that the Factory Robot and Chet had both left and that there was only light coming from the manager's office, hidden in a tiny hallway beside the reception desk that only employees were allowed to enter. Angela was able to see the pot plants in front of his office, lit up by the blinding distinct light outside. She knew that she shouldn't butt into other people's business, but eventually decided to trespass and see what was going on inside the room.

The manager had known Angela for a while since she moved to the apartment building, and was held with the responsibility of making sure Angela was working efficiently while secretly making weapons for Megacorp. He too was once a member of Megacorp, but quit to run a simple apartment building and check up on the current political battles everyday. However, lately he had been extremely quiet, and this led Angela to check on him. Slowly, she opened the door, and saw the manager unconscious sitting on his chair, as if he had a heart attack.

Angela immediately closed the door, thinking he was dead, but then realised that there were no signs of attack. Slowly and fearfully, he opened the door back open and got a better look at the manager, and noticed his head was resting on the desk. Reluctantly, she walked around the gigantic desk and pushed the manager back upright with ease, and revealed that his tie was not tight so he wouldn't have been choked. Angela pressed her palm against his heart and heard the irregular beating that was normal for his species.

Angela sighed in relief, and now knew that he had received an emotional shock from something he must have heard or read. She walked over to the Holo-phone over to the right of her, against the wall, and picked it up, looking at the recent calls, with one which was simply an update on the process of the new top floor, which he didn't care for much. She put the Holo-phone down and walked over to the desk, and saw that he had been reading a particular newspaper article…

_As the political leader Champio fights to gain the position of Galactic President, authorities have no choice but to let Champio evade breaking the law and put cities in jeopardy, although there are no violations against it. Galactic President of Bogon, Gohol, said "I believe that Champio's first target is Boldan, but there is no proof that he had placed a bomb underground Silver City, and therefore is about to lockdown the planet in hopes that nothing is damaged." Reports tell that Champio is winning the battle against Gohol, but many people have wished that an election was available, but unfortunately, due to the laws, if the opposition does not agree to an election, then an election is not to be held. –Guy Milligan._

Angela put down the newspaper in disgust, and immediately decided that she was going to become a politician, and fight to create new laws and to stop Champio from his legal terror. She then remembered that a bomb had been placed underground in Silver City and the place was going to be put in lockdown soon, so she quickly left the unconscious manager and ran into the lift, where she saw Wormy inside, having fun just riding up and down. However, once he saw the look on Angela's face, he knew something was wrong.

The elevator stopped at the 6th floor, with the highest floor being the 8th, and Angela stormed out and immediately saw that the door to her apartment was open, and then she remembered that she forgot to lock the door to her apartment on the way out for her jog. She ran to the door in desperation, and opened it, but saw that nothing had been taken and just moved, as if someone was searching for information inside her home.

"What the…" began Angela, but her confusion prevented her from finishing her sentence. She ran over to her work desk, and saw that her weapon blueprints were in fact gone, and guessed that a thief had come to blackmail her by taking her precious work and splitting. She ran to her Holo-phone to call about both her request to be a politician and the robbery inside her apartment, but when she picked it up, she noticed that the phone line wasn't working.

She ran back outside, and saw that the door to the apartment opposite to her was open and saw her neighbour inside, sitting down and stroking his hair, obviously depressed. Quickly, she ran in, not bothering the depressed neighbour at all, and she looked out the window, and saw that the sky was dark and the city was deserted, and she then realised that the news about the lockdown had spread through the city and they were cowering in their homes, waiting for the lockdown and the bomb to explode.

Angela climbed away from the window and ran straight back into her apartment, and saw Wormy sitting on the chair, unsure of what was going on. She stormed into the bathroom and pulled out all the drawers, grabbing the clothes she needed. She got back up and went to her bedroom, and grabbed her photos and mementos, and then pulled a suitcase from under her bed and stuffed everything inside. She walked back out into the living room, and then heard the door creaking.

"Hello?" she asked fearfully, as she dropped the suitcase softly. Slowly, as the door began to creak open even more, Angela edged to the side of the room and sidled to behind the door. Eventually, the door opened fully and almost immediately she turned around and pushed her leg backwards, grabbing the intruder's neck and she pushed herself with them to the ground, and prepared to punch them before she saw who it was.

"Angela! Let go, damn it!" choked Ratchet, on the ground, holding Angela's blueprints in his hand. Angela removed her leg from pinning him to the ground, and immediately grabbed the blueprints back.

"Ratchet!" yelled Angela. "Where the hell have you been? I heard that the city was about go into lockdown, but I can't get off this planet because I don't have a ship anymore! And what are you doing with my blueprints?"

"Angela…" gasped Ratchet, sitting up while clutching his throat. "I heard about the lockdown, so I came to try and get you out of here. Clank isn't with me. He was sleeping at Megapolis and I didn't want to wake him." Ratchet looked at his back, and it felt weird to not have a robot sitting there. "I came into your apartment, but I saw that you weren't here, so I grabbed the blueprints so that if you saw me with them, it would attract your attention. And then I came back with no luck and heard you stomping around inside."

Angela sat down next to Ratchet, and sighed, before speaking to him. "I'm just so angry that Whats-his-face can get his way because of the laws that are missing from this stupid galaxy. I'm sure things are much better in Solana."

"With Drek, I wouldn't think so."

"Yeah, well, I was hoping to become a politician and teach that Champ guy a lesson!" Wormy rolled into the room with a briefcase one his head, which was gigantic to him, and Angela remembered that she was packing. "Oh, Ratchet! This is Wormy. I bought him only a few days after I came to Silver City, and he has been very helpful to me."

"I see," said Ratchet, looking at Wormy with concern. "He seems to be different to Worm-droids I've usually seen." He watched as Angela stood back up and began to get some of the things she needed to escape the planet.

"I know," said Angela. "The lady who I bought him from was extremely weird, but she convinced me to buy him, although he seems no different to others." Ratchet wondered for ages what Wormy might actually be, and was then distracted by Angela plopping down another suitcase, and saw that she had filled three and most of the apartment had been cleared out. Lastly, she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote down a message, before folding it up and taking it with her.

"Let's go," said Angela, picking up two suitcases and dumping them in Ratchet's hands. She picked up the last one, and began to walk out, and noticed that instead of Clank, Ratchet had a backpack on his back. "So how much time to we have left?" Ratchet and Wormy followed Angela into the hallway, and waited for her to lock her apartment with the key.

"I'm not sure, but it's close," began Ratchet, his heart pounding furiously as he feared that they might be too late. "We should have enough time to get out and get in the Star Explorer. Apparently, once the city is in lockdown, an energy field around the planet will be put up, preventing ships from starting, in case one of them has the bomb planted inside. But the Star Explorer is kept under constant patrol by an electrical field that zaps anyone who touches it without the key."

Angela didn't bother to make a comment, and caught up with Ratchet and Wormy who were both already walking towards the elevator. Angela finally reached the duo and saw that Ratchet had managed to press the "down" button, and was waiting for the elevator to come up. Ratchet turned and smiled at Angela, who returned the smile and they both heard the "ding" as the elevator door opened.

Ratchet, Angela and Wormy entered the elevator shaft, and Angela quickly pressed the "1st floor" button, before joining the others, and waited in anticipation as the elevator slowly slid down. A loud thud caused Ratchet and Angela to jump a little, and the elevator stopped. The lights went out and the breezy music stopped as well, and they were enveloped in total darkness. Ratchet managed to make out Angela's figure, and felt something on his feet. He looked down, and was relieved to see Wormy cowering on his foot.

"Angela, are you okay?" he whispered, and heard the sound of a suitcase dropping and then heard two hands slamming against the wall behind him.

"Yeah, I'm just seeing where the walls are," said Angela from behind Ratchet, and he turned around to see Angela supporting herself against the wall, and was moving around the elevator shaft, following the wall. Eventually, she let go and searched Ratchet, before accidentally poking his cheek. "Sorry." She remembered that she had put a torch in one of the suitcases Ratchet was holding. She moved forward and then tripped over, landing on the ground with another loud thud.

"ANGELA?" Ratchet was shocked from the fall, and then managed to see a figure sprawled on the ground, looking behind them and noticed two suitcases which had been dropped by him when he needed to search for an escape route. "Sorry for putting those there." Ratchet apologised when he figured out what had happened.

"Your fault for scaring yourself," said Angela, as she checked her ankles and saw that they were both fine. She crawled over to the nearest suitcase and opened it, and was greeting with clothes stuffed inside, and closed it, knowing she had got the wrong suitcase. She picked up the other one and found that it was full of food and tools, and smiled before finally finding a torch inside, and turned it on. It blared light in Ratchet's face and he was so shocked he fell backwards onto the ground.

"AH!" he yelped, before realising that Angela had pointed the torch at his face. "ANGELA!"

"Sorry," peeped Angela, smirking away from the torch so Ratchet could see it. "Now let's find an escape route." She pointed the torch all around the shaft, and saw that the walls were solid crimson, and didn't seem to show any signs of escape. Her search was hindered by an extremely loud thud, which caused her to fall to the ground as well. "What was that?"

"Angela…" began Ratchet, picking himself up. He looked around the room, but didn't finish his sentence.

"Ratchet, what's going on? Spit it out!" Angela constantly begged for Ratchet to tell her without giving him a change to answer, and eventually he became frustrated.

"Angela, shut up!" She suddenly went quiet, and he smiled at her cheekily. "Okay, I think the elevator stopping was part of the lockdown, and that loud thud was the bomb exploding, somewhere underneath Silver City. Angela…we're trapped." Angela turned the torch off in shock, and almost cried, and now knew that she had no hope of escaping Silver City's lockdown...


	3. The Escapers

_Chapter 3: The Escapers_

Angela reached down to the floor of the stuck elevator, and felt around for the flashlight. She felt the suitcases a few times until she finally grasped the flashlight, and immediately turned it on, alarming Ratchet.

"Sorry…" she whispered, as she waved the torch around, looking for some kind of escape. She knew that the doors and walls wouldn't work as an escape route, because they were wedged in a shaft, between floors.

"Do you have anything in your suitcases that could help us get out of here?" asked Ratchet, standing on one of them and inspecting the ceiling.

"Oh, well I don't know about anything…except for an experimental square gun that I was going to send to Megacorp sometime!" She opened one suitcase, while Ratchet opened another.

After much searching, Ratchet found a long pen-shaped whirligig that a few small circular blades on the end. "What's this?" he asked as he pressed a button and jumped when the blades started spinning.

"Oh…that," stated Angela gradually. "Just…put it back!" Ratchet shrugged and heeded her advice, placing the item back in the suitcase. After rummaging through the case again after being distracted by Ratchet, she found the square gun at the bottom.

"Found it!" she yelled, and Ratchet looked up and saw Angela holding up some object in the dark. She threw the torch at him and he held it up at the ceiling as Angela aimed the gun up and pulled the trigger.

"What the?" said Ratchet as he gazed at the ceiling, which remained the same. Angela pulled the trigger, but all she heard was a click.

"God damn it! Why now? The gun's jammed!" she yelled, throwing the gun to the ground and stomping on it. Before Ratchet could stop her, she picked it up, realising it was an experiment, and tossed it back in the suitcase. "So what now?"

"Well…we might as well just sit down and enjoy the ambience for a while," whispered Ratchet, turning off the flashlight to conserve batteries. He sat down and rested his back on one of the walls, while Angela sat down on the opposite one.

"Well…if you're hungry, there are some chocolate bars and chips in the third suitcase," said Angela, pointing to the suitcase that sat on the wall to the right of her, where the elevator doors were.

"So, how's life in Silver City?" asked Ratchet, pulling the suitcase over to him and grabbing a few bars.

"Oh, I've met some new people over the past few months," said Angela. "There's a butcher in the market named Eric, who sells me meat whenever I feel like it. I also made a new best friend. Her name is Doris, and like me, she does a jog everyday, around the same time as me."

"Ahh, cool," said Ratchet, as Wormy crawled out of the shadows. "Hey, has Wormy made some new friends as well?" Almost immediately, Wormy showed projections on the wall, but Ratchet and Angela couldn't see it in the dark.

"What's he showing?" asked Angela as Ratchet picked up the flashlight and turned it on, revealing a picture of the man with the magenta umbrella. Wormy then switched to a picture of the red head Markazian with her child, Kyra. Finally, the small black and lime Worm-droid showed an image of the Tyhrranoid with the straw hat.

"Who are they?" enquired Ratchet.

"I have no idea," replied Angela. "Although, Wormy does take the Hovertaxi to the apartment everyday after he goes out exploring, so he may have met some people there." Wormy chirped excited, indicating that she guessed right.

"So, how do you get to know about the lockdown?" asked Angela, ignoring Wormy.

"Well, I was just flicking through the channels, looking for something good to watch when I saw the words "BOLDAN IN LOCKDOWN" glaring at me."  
>"Heh…" said Angela, showing that she was extremely bored.<p>

"Don't worry," blurted Ratchet, noticing the expression on her face through the darkness. "I'll find some way out of here soon." He struggled to stand up after sitting down for so long, and he grabbed the three suitcases and piled them on top of each other.

"What are you doing?" asked Angela, unable to tell exactly what was happening through the amount of lux in the elevator.

"I'm going to see if there's any weak point in the ceiling, somewhere I can bust through," explained the furry Lombax. He knocked a few times on the top of the elevator, finding no place he could damage, but fell off the suitcases when he heard three knocks back at him.

"Who's there?" Angela demanded, stretching to grab the flashlight and turn it on. As she pointed it up at the ceiling, she and Ratchet heard a muffled voice.

"I do not want to harm you. I am here to rescue you," answered a deep voice. Wormy immediately became excited when he heard the voice, and began to ride around the elevator in joy.

"Can you get us out of here?" asked Ratchet, too hopeful to ask the man's name.

"Yes, although you will need to stay out of the middle of the cubicle," replied the rescuer. Ratchet immediately scrambled to the middle and pulled the suitcase pile away to the wall as a crackling sound began and some flashing lights were exposed. Angela and Wormy had already backed themselves against the wall as a neat square was cut in the middle of the elevator cubicle.

The ceiling dropped down in a flurry of sparks, leaving Ratchet and Angela to look at a dark-dressed man with a magenta umbrella by his side…

"It's him," muttered Angela, remembering the projection that her Worm-droid that presented. "Excuse me sir, do you recognise this Worm-droid?" Angela grabbed Wormy and held him up towards the ceiling.

The man in the dark coat and sharp beard looked over at Wormy and smiled. "Yes, I recognise this Worm-droid," he spoke in his fantastic dark voice. "I was with it on the Hovertaxi earlier today."

"Mind if I ask…" began Ratchet, who the man hadn't noticed. "What do you happen to be doing inside an elevator shaft?" The man's dark black hair swooped over his eyes as he turned to look at Ratchet.

"Long story," he assured. "I'll explain later." He turned away from looking down inside the cubicle and pulled a ladder and he faced back towards it. He pushed it down and held it as it touched the ground.

"Come on," said Ratchet to Angela as he walked to the ladder and pulled it out, causing it to split in two and balance without the man holding it. This mysterious person let go of the ladder and placed a complicated golden gun back into a dark black bag that was camouflaged next to him.

"So, what's your name?" asked Ratchet as he pulled the two suitcases up with him when he climbed the ladder. The man turned back to look at him and found that he was almost out of the cubicle.

"The name's Guy Milligan," he said, pulling out a gloved hand to shake Ratchet's. Angela almost fell off the ladder when she heard Guy say his name.

"You mean the newspaper article writer?" exclaimed Angela, who was carrying a suitcase halfway up the ladder.

"Yes, I have recently been looking into the Champio story," Guy answered, feeling quite proud that someone knew about him. He saw that Angela was struggling to reach the top of the ladder, so he stretched his arm out to grab the luggage.

"Oh, thanks," said Angela, excited to meet someone so locally famous, because she would feel proud knowing them without feeling that she was annoying to their famous life. She pulled the case up and Guy took it swiftly.

Once she had reached the top and stepped on top of the cubicle, Guy pulled the ladder up (that was carrying Wormy on the bottom step) and placed it against the wall as Wormy jumped off. "So, how did you escape from the lockdown?" was another question by Ratchet.

"Well, I was headed to the Clock Tower earlier today, where I met two women who were heading there too to find out more about the Champio debate, which was being screened there," Guy answered.

"They escaped too, and they are in this building. For now, we need to get there." He pointed up at an open space high above them, which was the door to the shaft, kept open by two heavy cinderblocks.

"They may have been the two women that Wormy had shown projections of," said Ratchet to Angela, who stared at Guy dreamily. They both noticed this, and Guy blushed while Ratchet playfully slapped her to get her out of the trance.

"I'll finish the story once we get out of this shaft," Guy explained in his rich, deep voice.

"Another question," said Ratchet. "How are we going to get out?"

"This," Guy said while pulling out a metallic rope out of the shadows. "This rope is attached to a device I placed at the door that will pull a weight of 1000kg upwards when I give it two tugs downwards."

"I'm not familiar with kilograms," said Angela, feeling weird for not speaking in a while. "Are we less?"

"Well, unless you two weigh over 900kg, we're fine," said Guy as he smiled cheekily.

"Did you use a device like that one to break us out of the elevator?" enquired Ratchet even more.

"Indeed," confirmed Guy, a little annoyed at Ratchet's questions, but understanding his confusion as he had just been rescued from a stuck elevator by a newspaper writer with a magenta umbrella.

"So, everyone grab onto me and anything they want to bring with them," he announced. Guy picked up his umbrella and bag, while Ratchet and Angela both took the three suitcases and Wormy, and held onto Guy as he grabbed the rope.

"Going up," he said, smiling as he tugged the rope down twice, and felt his weight shift as they slowly elevated upwards in this makeshift elevator. Ratchet felt the cold air inside the shaft brush against his fur, making it itch.

"Gah!" he yelled, trying to ignore it. Guy looked at Ratchet's fur, and managed to scratch it with one finger. "Thanks." However, while doing this, Guy almost slipped from the rope, and because he was only one grabbing onto it, they nearly all fell.

"Ahhh…" were the only words that came out of Guy's mouth as he desperately grabbed the ascending metal rope, and was relieved to find that they had already reached the top. "Jump off," he commanded as the rope stopped ascending.

"Sure," said Angela, who then jumped off, landing badly with Wormy and one of the suitcases in her hand. Ratchet followed, having a landing much better than Angela's. Lastly, Guy jumped off, the bottom of his coat flapping about as he did this.

Guy turned and reached out, pulling the rope device off its hook. Angela stood up and began to walk out into the corridor, but tripped, continuing the tradition of her clumsiness. "Whoops!" she exclaimed.

Ratchet almost immediately noticed that this was the corridor that Angela's apartment belonged in. "How come you didn't open any of the doors on the lower levels?"

"Couldn't open them," answered Guy immediately, his voice muffled in his jet black coat as he bent down and grabbed the cinderblocks, pulling them only as far as into the corridor, allowing the doors to close. Ratchet turned around. "As you can see, there is a hole in this door that allowed me to open it."

Guy pointed to a gap in the two metal, joined doors that used to be a tiny opening, however, after much damaging, became a messy gap. "Now, we need to…" Guy's voice trailed off as he witnessed Ratchet and Angela running down the corridor, then charging into one of the doors.

"Oh, come on," he said as he looked at the three suitcases lying on the ground. He dropped his magenta umbrella and black bag as well, and charged towards the room that the two Lombaxes disappeared into. He was amazed when he saw the amount of objects inside the room, and immediately deduced that this was Angela's apartment.

"Hold this," said Ratchet, running out of a room with stacks of junk food.

"Okay, I'm not carrying all of this, plus the three suitcases," complained Guy.

"You won't need to," answered Angela, coming out of another room with five backpacks. "Why didn't I think of this before?" She dropped them all and immediately took one, filling it with some personal hygiene projects. The colours on the backpacks were all the same, green with yellow on the zippers and pockets.

"Ah well," said Guy, picking up one of the backpacks and running out of the apartment. He realised that all this running was making him hot, so he took off his coat and stuffed it in the backpack with ease. He then opened one of the suitcases, ignoring the contents, but just filling the backpack with what was within it.

After everyone had filled the backpacks with what they wanted (Guy kept his umbrella in his coat), the three walked out of Angela's apartment, which should have been affected by the lockdown, but since her door was open, it glitched and covered the door in metal, but didn't close it.

"Last question, I promise," said Ratchet, walking out with a backpack on, meeting with Guy and Angela, who had left the empty luggage in the apartment "How did you find us?"

"Well, we who escaped found ourselves just near the apartment building when I drove a Hovertaxi myself, and then the lockdown happened. However, we managed to get inside just before the building's doors were covered in hard metal. We decided to rummage around for some food, but I saw on the computer, that had an elevator watcher on the screen, that one elevator had been stuck."

"That's when I heard voices coming from the elevator shaft, and I cut through the doors on the ground floor, which were slightly weaker than the others, and saw that the elevator was above me. You know the rest."

"So, the two women you were with are now on the ground floor," affirmed Ratchet. "So let's go." As he turned to walk towards the stairs on the opposite side of the lift, he saw a woman arrive at the top of the stairs. She almost tripped when she gazed her eyes upon Ratchet.

"Corrina," said Guy, noticing her come up the stairs. She didn't respond. She had her eyes fixed on the Lombax, almost in a trance. Ratchet was the same. He stared at the Markazian, a species he had never seen before, and instantly fell in love. He stared at her wavy auburn hair flowing down her back, and her beautiful big blue eyes.

"Corrina, what are you staring at?" Guy asked again, causing the two to come out of their trances.

"Oh," began Corrina in her typical womanly voice. "I was just looking at the two people next to you." She felt embarrassed, wondering if the two others had noticed her staring at the gorgeous Lombax. She gazed at the other Lombax, Angela, and immediately felt as if she had competition.

_But my man was looking at me as well, so that at least tells me he's interested,_ she thought to herself, officially naming Ratchet "my man" for her thoughts. "But this other Lombax woman may try and hold him back and stop him from having me."

"Corrina?" asked Guy, who was somehow right in front of her, towering over this relatively short woman with his tall, slender body. "Are you okay?" Corrina realised that a whole conversation had gone by while she was stuck in her thoughts, and noticed that Angela and Ratchet were standing next to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered eventually. "Just…daydreaming." She quickly sneaked a look at Ratchet, before turning to walk off with the trio. Corrina wore an extremely dark purple tank top, almost black. She also had women's jeans over her legs, and wore some green Converse.  
>"Here," said Guy, throwing a backpack to her which she caught just in time. As she put it on, Angela began to speak.<p>

"The name's Angela," said the Lombax to the left of Corrina. Corrina turned her head and went along with the greeting, pretending to be nice.

"You already know my name," she answered with a smile as they walked down the curving stairwell. She extended her arm across her towards Angela, who happily shook it. Corrina immediately looked back at Ratchet once the greeting had finished, expecting him to confidently introduce him.

"So how's Kyra?" Guy interrupted, pacing steadily in front of the three, not bothering to look back at them.

"Oh, she's healthy, but I think she's started to teeth," responded Corrina, feeling a little disappointed that Ratchet hadn't given himself a proper greeting. _However, that proves to me even more that he likes me._

"So, what's your name?" she asked to Ratchet, who had remained quiet. She found speaking to Ratchet a little difficult, but Corrina immediately knew it was because her heart was racing like an athlete on steroids.

"Oh, Ratchet," he said quietly. Angela immediately noticed that he was being extremely timid, but couldn't figure out why.

"Hey, Luci," said Guy, who had reached the ground floor and was looking over at a small blue Tyhrranoid, the third member from the Hovertaxi. "Any luck with the lockdown."

"Hold," belched the alien who was now wearing glasses, pink around the thick rims. She tapped at the computer and stopped after a heavy press of a button. "There. Live streaming of debate." By this time, Angela, Ratchet and Corrina had arrived and joined Luci and Guy at the computer.

"Luci," said the Tyhrranoid, holding out both of her hands to Ratchet and Angela, not understanding the greeting fully.

"Ratchet," he said as Angela said her name at the same time, and they both shook hands simultaneously. After the greetings were done, they all made themselves comfortable and watched the debate.

"I believe that…" began Champio, but the politicians chatter made him stop. Champio had a square head, with human skin colour, and had a metal makeshift gold "beard" beginning at his neck upwards. Champio wore grey armour, with signs of a red shirt peeking through.

"As I was saying…" he began again as the politicians began to speak once more. Champio had an extremely bulky build, and wore a dark red cape down his back. His pants were a formal black.

"IF I COULD SPEAK!" he boomed, scaring the politicians. He felt his bald head, feeling proud of himself for making a whole room quiet.

"You may speak," said the tinny-voiced speaker high above the arched room, in a floating chair.

"I feel that it is safe for the citizens to remain in lockdown for around two to three years because radiation from the explosion may poison the whole planet," Champio believed, causing the room to go into an uproar.

"How will the people survive?" yelled an unknown voice from the crowd as papers flew everywhere, to which Champio answered.

"I do agree it will be most uncomfortable for the citizens, so I feel it will be best to send some robot guards down weekly to provide food for all the citizens, but also shoot anyone whose outside, because they will be affected by the radiation."

After a few minutes, a vote was called and the people for this plan won, causing Ratchet and his friends to go into an uproar.

"As a help to the citizens of Boldan," began Champio yet again, causing everyone to quiet down. "I will personally travel to the planet, under protection of a radiation suit and set up the operation myself, inside the Clock Tower." With this, the live stream ended.

"Okay, so we should go to the Clock Tower," assured Ratchet.

"No!" exclaimed Corrina. "Didn't he say there's radiation out there? I don't want to put Kyra through that!" She scooped up Kyra off the bench, who was playing with Wormy.

"But surely, you don't want Kyra living three early years of her life in lockdown," rebutted Guy.

"Quiet!" yelled Luci. "Me check outside. Radiation bluff."

"You mean, he's deliberately putting the people of Boldan through three years of torture all for nothing?" yelled Ratchet, the loudest he had spoken in a while.

"Yep," answered Guy, throwing a backpack over to Luci. "Put this on, we're going on a walk to the Clock Tower."


	4. Evil Forces

_Chapter 4: Evil Forces_

A large flat spaceship made its way into the atmosphere of Boldan, and stopped high over the one city, Silver City. Immediately, over a hundred small pods ejected themselves downwards, and plummeted to the surface. As one impacted near a large crevice in amidst the dusk, ten robots marched out with no damage whatsoever.

These robots were silver, like the city they were marching in. They walked with human-like legs, but their bodies were abnormally wide and boxy, with stubby little arms holding guns. Their heads were similar to Clank's – round with a single antenna and big green eyes.

As the marched through the street, a rock landed, near the crevice, attracting the attention of just one of the machines. The automatons began to disperse to different buildings to deliver food supplies, but that one that was distracted moved over to the rock and picked it up.

"Hi-ya!" a yell called as the robot studied the rock. Before the droid could respond, a tall man in a black coat leaped out of the crevice and slammed down on the robot with a magenta umbrella. The robot deactivated almost immediately, and Guy Milligan quickly dragged the limp robot into the crevice.

"What was that?" yelled one of the robots in an inhuman tone. All of the robots turned towards the crevice, aiming their guns, but saw nothing. Slowly, they all began to resume their normal duties.

After a few minutes, the machines all disappeared from sight, probably going somewhere to recharge and wait deactivated for a week until the next round of supplies were needed. Guy peeked out of the crack, and saw that it was safe.

"Let's go," he said in his rich, low tone. Following him out were Corrina and Ratchet, Corrina with the robot's gun in her hands and Ratchet with Kyra.

_This is great,_ she thought. _With Angela not around, I can finally see if I can get through to Ratchet!_

"I hope Angela and Luci are all right," said Ratchet to no-one in particular, already missing his Lombax friend and the short funny Tyhrranoid.

"I told you it was safer to split up and meet up back at the Clock Tower," answered Guy, once again not looking back to talk. "Now that I think about it, Corrina, Luci and I are like the perfect trio. Luci's the brains, Corrina's the brawn, and I'm the leader."

"Who made you the leader?" Corrina joked. Ratchet was the only to laugh, trying to make Corrina feel better.

"I didn't expect someone like you to have a child," Ratchet said, and it took a while for Corrina to realise he was talking to her.

"Oh…" she stammered. "I don't want to talk about how it happened." Corrina looked down, remembering the man had caused her to give birth.

"Well, at least the result was great," Ratchet smiled, putting a pacifier back into Kyra's mouth after she spat it out.

"Yeah…" burst Corrina, feeling a little bad that she was putting her only child in danger.

"Shhh!" Guy suddenly yelled. After walking for a while, Guy had stopped in at the edge of an alleyway where he gazed upon over a hundred of the silver robots marched towards a platoon of motionless vehicles.

These vehicles slowly lowered themselves so that their edges were touching the ground. They then opened their ten compartments, each with a charging station inside. Guy, Corrina and Ratchet watched as each robot walked to a station, and plugged a cord into their side. Immediately they were deactivated, and their antennas flashed blue.

"This is going to be difficult," Guy said as watched as many of the machines were activated, waiting for their turn on the charging stations.

"Guy!" hissed Corrina, tugging on the black coat. He turned around and saw that Corrina and Ratchet had heard a marching noise from behind them.

"That means…" began Guy, but Ratchet and Corrina had already crawled into the two trashcans, hiding themselves from sight. However, this left Guy out in the open, sandwiched in between the two groups of soldiers.

"Aww crap!" he hissed, beginning to move one way, but then stopping and heading the other, repeating this as time run out. A battalion of eight robotic soldiers marched down the alleyway and stopped just before the edge.

"Nice mannequin," said one of the automatons, looking to the left where he mistook a very still Guy for a plastic figure. The others looked as well, and Guy began to sweat. Before they noticed anything, they heard a crying sound to the right of them.

"Was that a baby?" asked one of the robots, and they all shifted their attention right, allowing Guy to rest for a bit. He saw one of the heads turning back to him and quickly got back into his mannequin pose, but didn't need to hold it long,

"Meow," purred Ratchet from inside the bin, cupping his hand over Kyra's mouth. He remembered Angela had tried this once on the Thug Leader, and hoped it would actually work this time.

"Just a cat," assured another one of the robot troops, and they all marched off to the recharging stations. Guy was exhausted from smiling too much when frozen on the spot, and Corrina and Ratchet released themselves from the bin.

"Well, that sucked," said Corrina, taking a banana peel off her head. They all walked to the edge of the alleyway again and looked at how the straight path that lead to the entrance of the Clock Tower was blocked by a group of five vehicles on a diamond courtyard.

"Hey, look!" hissed Ratchet, pointing towards the edge of the far left vehicle. A small Tyhrranoid had poked her head out from behind it, and was then joined with a female Lombax. "It's Angela and Luci!" Luci spotted the three looking at them, and quickly winked before disappearing from sight as a robot blocked their line of vision.

"What are they doing?" grumbled Guy. "They'll get themselves killed at this rate."

"But Luci has all the brains," retorted Ratchet. "She'll probably figure out a way to go undercover." Ratchet was right, because a few moments later, sparks flew from the vehicles, and the charging stations overcharged the deactivated robots, causing them to explode.

"What happened?" yelled one of the robots, as the three onlookers smiled. In amidst the uproar, one droid ignored the loss of many of his kind and walked to the front.

"All right!" it yelled, shutting everyone up. "Everyone to a different set of stations, I'll tell the boss that these malfunctioned!" All of the robots began to disperse, but before they could turn around, Guy, Corrina and Ratchet had all disappeared into their hiding places.

In a matter of a few minutes, the droid had all disappeared, and the three only came out once they were sure it was quiet. Guy smiled as he saw Angela and Luci running towards them. He began to do the same, but stopped when he heard a grumbling noise.

"What was that?" yelled Corrina, catching up with Guy. They all looked up and saw that the flat spaceship had not disappeared, and a helicopter flew out of a hangar and blasted towards them. The five ducked as they thought that the helicopter would crash into them, but actually levelled out and landed on the roof of the Clock Tower.

"Champio…" whispered Ratchet as he saw a blurry figure walk out of the ship in the distance. After that, the flat roaring spaceship was covered with clouds as it took off from the planet.

"How did you two do that?" asked Corrina to Angela and Luci, shifting everyone's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Wormy helped us," said Angela, holding out her palm, which contained the sleeping black and lime Worm-droid. "He crawled in and took out all of the control panels, and then pressed some buttons to overload it. And then he put them all back in."

"Very undercover," said Guy. "I'm impressed."

"WOW, what a shock," said Angela, sarcastically. While the five were catching up with Angela and Luci's journey, Corrina thought about how she didn't score with Ratchet.

_Damn it, I was too slow! I could have used Kyra as something to talk about, and made it work from there. But we were distracted, so I should have hurried up._ Corrina just shrugged, and realised that she had completely missed out on Angela and Luci's journey, not that it was important.

"To the Clock Tower, then," Guy announced as Ratchet looked up at the roof of the Clock Tower. The helicopter that Champio arrived in was still sitting there, but Champio was not in sight, probably on the top floor. As he looked down he checked the time.

_11:12pm. It's only been a few hours since the lockdown happened, although it feels like a few years. _Ratchet looked over Corrina. _I've loved girls before, but I've always been confident. Why can't I be with her? Is she really the one for me?_

Corrina began to walk with the group and noticed Ratchet was looking at her. She smiled quickly and looked away, and Ratchet realised that she must have felt weird with him looking at her. He slapped himself quickly, before catching up with the group.

"Guy," said Ratchet, attracting his attention enough for him to turn around. "While I feel we should still save the people here, don't you think it would be a good idea to steal the helicopter on top of the Clock Tower?"

"Hmm," said Guy, a little embarrassed that he didn't think of that himself. "While I think we should stay undercover for the time, we should steal it and take it somewhere hidden for later, when our presence is known. And I agree that we should save the people, they are whole reason we are trying to get to Champio."

Ratchet nodded, feeling a little proud that he had contributed. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Corrina was looking at him with a smile, but as soon as looked over to her, she turned her head back away from him.

"Don't those panels look weird?" asked Angela, gazing at four protruding panels around the door.

"I've never seen them before," muttered Guy, wondering if something was wrong. His suspicions were correct as the four panels began to transform, and Guy screamed as he turned and ran. Four broken-down robots appeared in front of the door to the Clock Tower.

"RUN!" yelled Guy, with the four following him as the four robots began to fire at them. They were short and brown, all of their heads missing, but were still able to fire with their hands that acted as guns. However, they had no legs, and floated in the air with a blue exhaust coming out the bottom.

"What are they?" yelled Guy to Luci as they were being blasted by the droids. As they all ran, they could hear the robots saying behind them "MALFUNCTION! MALFUNCTION!" The bullets were too rapid to avoid, but thankfully the only damage was to Angela's shoulder and Guy's bottom.

"Look politic robots," began Luci as they entered the alleyway and all ducked behind the bins "Obsolete, they malfunction." Guy nodded, understanding what she had said. He looked behind him to see if they were all there, but was shocked to see only Angela.

Ratchet and Corrina had run to the left of the three paths, and were still running from the robots, not finding any cover. Ratchet shielded Kyra with his body, and ran behind Corrina to protect her, but she shoved out of the way.

"Eat bullets, bastards!" she howled, and before the machines could respond, she fired a stream of energy pulses from her gun that she stole from the robot they had knocked out earlier. All of the pulses collided with the robots, knocking them down.

"Come on," she said to Ratchet, leading him into another alleyway that led to the one Guy, Angela and Luci were in.

From high above on the top floor of the Clock Tower, Champio stood there, watching the display of brawn from Corrina. "So, this Corrina is quite the fighter…hmmm." He turned away from the window and went to his desk he had set up to make a telephone call.

Corrina and Ratchet looked around the corner of the alleyway, and saw Angela looking straight at them. "Where have you been?" she asked, smiling.

"I just wasted a few bots," Corrina said, scowling and cocking her gun. By this time Guy and Luci had turned around and were looking at the two.

"Loved your war cry," began Guy, smirking.

"Thank you!" Corrina exclaimed, pointing the gun at Guy's crotch. "Bang!" she whispered without actually firing the weapon. She looked to the left and saw a panel on the wall. "Hey, wait a minute…"

"Oh, shi-" began Ratchet, but was cutoff by a blast from Corrina's gun, however, the energy pulse just bounced off. "Run!" The group all ran together, but kept their heads turned to watch the transformation from panel to droid, and this one had no head as well.

"It's one I shot just before!" yelled Corrina, ducking around a corner. "I notice the damage on it. This way!" She ran to the front of the pack and led them to the droids that she had defeated, however they were only three instead of the four that should have been there.

"Get behind me," she yelled, and everyone heeded her order. She waited in silence as the droid appeared, floating in mid-air, and as it turned towards them, she aimed the gun and fired. Three pulses of energy hit their target, but simply bounced off, unlike last time.

"I know these models of robots," said Angela unexpectedly. "After you shoot them once, they become resistant to the bullets you fire at them."

They all ducked as the robots a stream of bullets just over their heads.

"Well if that's true…" said Ratchet, pulling out a tiny pistol from his belt and firing a crackle of electricity towards the machine, immediately deactivating it.

"Where did you get that?" exclaimed Corrina, impressed by Ratchet's feat. She smiled, showing off her pearly white teeth.

"Found it in the trash can when we were hiding," Ratchet answered. "I figured out that it fired electricity, and after studying the gun, it should recharge in about five minutes."

"I still don't know, however," began Angela, and everyone turned their attention to her. "How did that robot survive after you fired an energy pulse at it? It should have killed it." She walked over to the deactivated robot, and was baffled at how it could have survived. "Well, this is a political make, used for assisting with speeches and guarding politicians when they travel. These went obsolete years ago."

Guy walked over and studied the droid. "Well, here are weld marks. It must have been repaired very quickly after Corrina destroyed it. But by who? Plus, it was malfunctioning before, probably it was obsolete. Hey, check it out." He opened the stomach compartment and pulled out a small device.

"Device?" asked Luci, watching over the scene. "Rapid spinner, yes?"

"Correct," said Guy, taking off his backpack and pulling out the gadget he had used to cut open the elevator. "I almost broke this thing cutting through the main door to the apartment building. With this attachment, I can cut through metal like it was rubber, and if this persistent automaton ever reactivates again, it won't fire as quickly."

"Speaking of reactivating," said Ratchet, putting his hand up sheepishly. "The effects of the gun are temporary, so it will reactivate soon."

"Almost midnight," said Corrina, looking up at the gigantic clock. She looked at Ratchet quickly, and then looked at the door of the Clock Tower in the distance. "And there's nothing blocking us."

"Well, then," began Guy, preparing a one-liner while smirking. "Full speed ahead!"


	5. The Clock Tower

_Chapter 5: The Clock Tower_

Luci was the first to walk into the front door of the Clock Tower, and immediately saw a long hallway, mostly a dark purple colour. Stone statues replicating the building itself lined the six doorways that headed left and right, along with an elevator at the far end.

"Almost there," said Guy, still cutting a hole in the metal covered door with his upgraded circular saw device. He had previously only cut a small hole for Luci, so she could check out the scene and alert them if there was any trouble, but so far, there wasn't.

The door came crashing down, missing Luci by a whisker. Corrina walked in first, her gun ready to fire. She looked down the six open arched doorways, but only found more corridors. In the one on the right, closest to the elevator, there was a stairwell.

"The elevator won't work, would it?" asked Angela, and Guy nodded while he quickly checked out the corridors.

"Should we go up the stairs?" asked Ratchet, looking up the stairwell. "Ah, on second thought maybe not." He caught sight of two of the silver robots walking down the stairs from far above.

"Oh, that's child's' play," said Corrina, pointing her gun up.

"No!" growled Guy. He lowered his voice. "We need to be undercover, otherwise we'll have barrages of droids after us." Corrina nodded reluctantly, wanting to shoot something.

Angela looked at the other five corridors. "So, which one should we take?" Guy glanced at the five almost identical rooms.

"I would say all of them, one in each, but we aren't all armed," announced Guy. "Corrina has that robot's gun, Ratchet has the tiny electric gun, and I have the saw device and, of course, my awesome umbrella."

"I have a weapon," Angela said immediately after Guy finished. Guy raised his eyebrow. "Although, it's experimental, and might not work a hundred percent of the time."

"It'll do," said Guy. "Just test it on something outside first." Angela took off her backpack, grabbed the gun out and ran out of the Clock Tower. "That leaves just Luci."

Angela looked at the grim sky outside of the Clock Tower, and immediately looked for something to test the gun she held in her hands. She immediately noticed the five tanks that she helped disable earlier, and smiled viciously. She walked up to them and pointed the gun at one of their bodies.

"Time to test this baby," she said as she held the trigger. A cyan light seeped through the small openings in the gun. Suddenly, a square rainbow ray slowly moved outwards towards the tank. As the ray entered the tank all the contents inside the square were disintegrated.

"Okay, that's enough," she said to the almighty gun, letting go of the trigger. The ray retracted, leaving a gaping square hole inside the tank. She smiled as she let the gun begin to recharge, and gazed upon Guy standing in the doorway as she turned around, giving her the thumbs up.

By the time Angela had re-entered the Clock Tower, Luci had a Lancer in her tiny Tyhrranoid hands. "Where'd you get that?" asked Angela.

"Statue," said Luci, pointing to the statue closest to her. Angela walked over to it and looked around it, wondering where the gun was. She lifted it up and found an empty space inside the statue underneath, big enough to conceal a gun.

"So, everyone ready?" asked Guy, already standing at one of the doorways. Everyone ran to a doorway, until the set up was like this: On the left side, starting at the one closest to the entrance were Corrina, Ratchet and Luci, while on the right were Guy and Angela.

"If any of you get lost or injured, or just in trouble at all, come back to this place," whispered Guy. "Go!" He bolted into his corridor and rounded the first corner, passing many doors. At the end of this turn that headed left, another turn went right, straight into a door.

Guy Milligan stopped just in time, and slowly opened the door. He found himself looking into a kitchen, and judging from the little dust, it had been used recently. He immediately found himself in a room with three rows of benches and sinks.

These benches had many kitchen appliances on them, including microwaves, toasters and ovens among many. Beside the walls was a long bench, only separated at the doorways, and these had more sinks, but also had ingredients and food, along with cupboards filled with clean sparkling dishes.

As Guy walked in, he immediately up an apple that was right next to him, and he chuckled as he took a bite. He slowly and leisurely strolled past the benches and opened the gate at the end, opening up an executive flight of stairs, probably for chefs.

"Well aren't I lucky?" he asked to himself, and he began to walk up.

* * *

><p>Corrina could hear the chatter of her friends nearby, but felt uncomfortable when everything went quiet. She held her child, Kyra, in her hands, but had her gun at her waist, ready for action. She assured herself that her friends were okay, and it was the size of the Clock Tower that stopped her from hearing them.<p>

"They're okay, they're okay…" she assured. "Especially Ratchet. He's not hurt." Corrina couldn't stand walking in this corridor anymore, and immediately opened the nearest door. She looked in and found a sort of office, containing only a brown desk and a few frames on the wall. The whole place had a purple feel to it.

"I'll leave you here," said Corrina to Kyra, placing her on the desk. The baby immediately grabbed a pen off the desk and started to draw squiggly lines on a piece of black paper. Corrina looked at the frames, with artist's painting on them and moved to the papers on the desk.

"Luci Ganley," she read off the triangular prism that told the name of the owner of the desk. "Luci? Does that mean…?" Her suspicions were confirmed when she found a photo of the friendly Tyhrranoid with a man at some sort of conference, receiving an award.

She jumped as the door at the other end of the room began to open, and she grabbed her gun and pointed. Before she realised it was the Lombax she loved, she fired an energy pulse, and dreaded that she'd be the killer of "her man". Ratchet saw this and ducked, leaving the energy pulse to burn a small bit of fur off his ears.

"Sorry!" Corrina yelled. "SO SO SORRY!" She shook on the spot, dropping the gun.

"Hey, it's okay," said Ratchet, trying to comfort her.

"It's just…" began Corrina, before going quiet. "It's just I'm so jumpy. I'm too afraid of Kyra getting hurt, so I've forced myself to shoot first and ask questions later. I just hate watching people I like get hurt. I only love killing stuff when it comes to people I hate!"

"It's okay…" muttered Ratchet, feeling a little bad for having Corrina risk her child's life.

"I'm sorry, you didn't do anything," said Corrina. "I just had to get that out. So this room connects the two corridors?" Ratchet shrugged, and then nodded. "Then maybe…" She walked past Ratchet and opened the door, finding another one looking at her on the other side.

"Perhaps we can get to…" she began to say before completely forgetting about the information she found about Luci. "Ratchet!" He looked at her immediately. "I think Luci works at the Clock Tower. She must be an office worker of some sort because this is her office. It has her full name, Luci Ganley, here and there's a picture of her receiving an award."

"Hmmm," said Ratchet, wondering what occupation she could have had. "She might have been a politician, or maybe worked with the Mayor of Boldan." That's when he realised what Corrina was talking about when she looked at the door. "We could ask her ourselves!"

"Ooh!" Corrina yelped as Ratchet grabbed her hand, making her blush, and she was pulled across the corridor and into the next room. "EXCUSE ME!" Corrina stormed back into the room and came back out with Kyra and a smile.

* * *

><p>As Angela walked into the corridor, only one pair of doors cut across her path until she found a turn, heading left, just like Guy's. She opened the first door she came to on the left, and found herself back in the staircase. She shut it and ignored the staircase, and just continued walking.<p>

"Hmmm, if I could find some way to get up to the top floor…" She walked down the long corridor that seemed to never end, and eventually gave up and entered one of the rooms. The room she strolled into was a room, almost the exact same as Luci's office, except there were no paintings and there was an elevation pad inside it.

"This shouldn't be working…" muttered Angela as she pressed one foot on it, and was shocked to find it was working. Her foot was dragged upwards by the pad, and she quickly grabbed onto the edges with her finger. "It must be running on an alternate power source.

Angela let her leg off of it, and climbed on just before she was squashed by being pressed up against a shaft. She laid sprawled on the pad as it travelled upwards, and counted the floors she was going up, and was on the sixth floor when the pad stopped.

Angela slid herself off the pad and stood up. She had toured the Clock Tower before when she first moved to Silver City, and knew that the building had seven floors, all high enough to reach the top. She also remembered when the top of the Clock Tower was flattened out and a helipad was built there.

"Champio must be above me," she muttered to herself, opening the nearest and looking out into the corridor. This corridor was wider than the narrow hallways she had just traversed, and was more similar to the room at the entrance, with statues lined up, except no doors in between them.

Angela exited into this corridor and saw that the end of the corridor was just on her right, brushing her elbow. There one thing inside this corridor that was out of place was the computer terminal in the middle of the room, against the wall that the door that Angela exited out of was situated.

"What the?" she asked when she saw a small lump on the floor, in front of the terminal. She walked to it, and when she got a closer look, she found that it was in a pool of blood and her jaw dropped when she figured out what it was.

"Halt!" she heard a robotic voice yell, and when she looked up, she saw a silver robot pointing a gun her. She jumped back, over a statue, clumsily knocking it over as she went. Fortunately, the falling statue shielded her from the energy pulse that robot fired.

Scrambling to her feet, Angela ran back into the door she came out of, and jumped onto the pad. She looked back and all she saw was silver. The droid had jumped onto the pad as well, landing on Angela. However, she noticed that the machine's gun was balancing over the edge of the floor that the pad took up.

"Hah! You no longer have your gun!" Angela yelled, looking up the gun that she could only see half of. The robot scowled at her, and swiftly punched her in the face, but she didn't care.

"I still have my martial arts programming!" the droid yelled at her. The pad had reached the ground floor, and Angela felt the bumpiness of the landing. The two stood up at the same time, but the automaton was the first to punch her.

"Hehehehe!" laughed Angela, looking up. She didn't care about the robot punching her. Slowly, she walked back, off the pad until the robot followed. After a few more punches, Angela spoke again.

"Time to die," she growled as the droid threw another punch. She led it back onto the pad, and as it started to move again, the gun on the sixth floor overbalanced and dropped towards the pad. Angela slid over, grabbing it and quickly shot the robot.

As expected, the energy pulse hit its target, but didn't kill it. However, it did knock the machine back, forcing half of it to hang off the edge. "You fail!" it laughed, but it stopped when it looked up and saw the ceiling of the ground floor.

"Oh really?" she asked rhetorically as the robot was squashed up against the ceiling, destroying it instantly, like it was in a garbage compactor. She smiled at the pad continued to elevate, but then remembered about the horror she witnessed on the sixth floor, and realised that the droid was the one who did it.

Regretting this, Angela walked back into the corridor, trying to avoid sight of the mess, but was distracted when she saw her Lombax friend and Corrina standing over the revulsion. Corrina was the first to look up, her hand covering Kyra's eyes, with tears in her own, and nodded slowly.

Ratchet edged his way around the puddle and looked at the terminal. He tapped a few buttons, his stomach turning from what he gazed upon. "The elevator is back on. Using an alternate power source." He looked back at the freak show, feeling like throwing up. "Must have…"

"YAAAAHH!" yelled a voice, distracting the three of them, and they jumped when the door opposite the terminal busted open, and a magenta umbrella charged out with a black figure behind it.

"Oh, it's you guys," said Guy, sighing. "I thought it was…" He trailed off when his eyes met the horror that laid on the floor. His eyes bulged as he stared at the pool of blood.

"A silver robot did it," announced Angela. "I avenged her." She slowly looked downwards at the dress that used to be green, but was now blood red like the hair of the Tyhrranoid with a huge hole in her torso, facing down. Luci Ganley was dead.


	6. Political Oppositions

_Chapter 6: Political Oppositions_

Ratchet and Guy Milligan, in their underwear, carried the body of Luci Ganley, their Tyhrranoid friend who was shot to death by a lockdown guard. They were in their underwear because their clothes would have been stained by the blood.

They had walked all the way out of the Clock Tower, and were now sitting on the small beach that surrounded the courtyard in front of the tower. Ratchet held Luci in his arms, while Guy got the casket ready. They had found this casket in the desk of Luci's office, as part of her will.

Ratchet laid Luci's body in the ocean for few seconds, cleaning off the blood, and then took her out, dried her, and then placed her inside the casket. The two men both had tears in their eyes as Guy closed the casket, and reluctantly laid the casket in the ocean, kicking it out to sail unknown seas.

The two put their arms around their shoulders, and waited there until the brown, formal square casket disappeared from sight. The blue ocean and the grey grim sky was all that was left. "We should catch up with the others," said Ratchet eventually.

"Yeah, they're probably with Champio right now," said Guy, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "This is the thing I fear the worst when it comes to being a leader. The death of my cohorts. When it comes to death, I, the leader, feel like I'm responsible." He tried to stop the tears, but they came even more now.

"You'll stop by the time we find Corrina and Angela," said Ratchet, looking at the time, which was 12:34, the next day. "Did you always know that Luci was a local politician?"

"Oh yes," said Guy, washing Luci's backpack in the water. "I've done many stories about her, but I didn't even realise what she looked like until she told me about herself when we visited the Clock Tower earlier, before the lockdown."

"I have something to tell you about Corrina," announced Ratchet.

"What?" asked Guy, clueless.

"I kinda…like her…" he stated, slowly. Guy looked at him blankly for a while.

"I never would have guessed that, but now that I think about it, it makes sense," he said, scooping a can of beer inside of Luci's backpack, and opening it. "I can never tell when someone's in love. It's a problem I have when dating, mostly."

"Anyway," said Ratchet, washing his bloody hands. "We should get back." He stood up and climbed onto the courtyard. Guy finished his can and threw it into the ocean, before joining Ratchet on the courtyard.

"Goodbye, Luci," he said one last time, before walking back into the Clock Tower, freezing from the temperature. By the time Guy made his way back into the Clock Tower, Ratchet was already holding the elevator door open.

"Hold on!" yelled Guy, running into the now activated elevator. Ratchet had already pressed the sixth floor, instead of the seventh, but Guy understood, because their clothes and backpacks were up there.

"I hope this one doesn't get stuck too," Ratchet joked, but truly felt worried. He was relieved when the elevator stopped, and the door opened to the sixth floor. He kept the door open as Guy ran in, grabbed their clothes and backpacks, and ran back into the elevator in record time.

"Let's go!" Ratchet yelled, pressing the 7th floor button. Before Ratchet could even get his clothes from Guy, the elevator stopped and the door opened to the 7th floor. Ratchet quickly put his jeans and suspenders on, and ran out with his backpack.

"Come on!" he yelled to Guy, who was getting his pants back on. Guy realised that the elevator doors were closing, and tried to out, but was stopped by the doors. He was too late and was now travelling back down to the ground floor.

"Yippee," said Ratchet sarcastically. "He'll catch up." He opened his backpack and took out his Megacorp Armor. "Time for some nostalgia." He put it on, zipped it up, and then placed his helmet on his head.

"So where are they?" He turned around and was in a very short corridor. Only one arched door was situated in the hallway, on the right, and was huge, taking up the whole wall. He pushed the door, struggling, until it was completely open.

"Phew!" Ratchet sighed, wiping the sweat that was growing on his face. This next room was purple and completely bare, except for another huge door at the other end. "Not another." He panted as he walked over and slowly pushed on the door, until there was just enough space to squeeze through.

"Hey!" Corrina whispered, who was looking back at him, smiling, obviously trying to forget about Luci. Ratchet smiled back and immediately noticed Angela in front of her, arguing with Champio.

"There are so many other ways to become Galactic President!" Angela yelled. "Putting people through three years of torture is not the best way! Just look that this child here!" She pointed at Kyra, who was sleeping in Corrina's arms. "Do you really want this baby to spend three early years of her life in lockdown?"

"May I ask how you got to find me in the first place?" asked Champio. He was looking out the window, gazing upon the wide ocean, and spotted a casket out at sea. Ratchet recognised his dull grey armor.

"Well, we broke down a few doors, blew up some vehicles and killed some attacking robots," Angela admitted.

"Yes, and I could have you arrested for that," rebutted Champio, smirking.

"BUT OUR FRIEND DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!" Angela screamed, shocking Ratchet and Corrina, but Champio wasn't fazed at all.

"And I guess that she is in that casket over there, floating out to sea," acknowledging what he saw out the window.

"How did you know our friend was female?" asked Angela, calming a little.

"Do you really think you were being undercover?" he asked. "I've been watching your every move since I saw the universal hero Ratchet landed in Silver City. I know that Guy Milligan is your leader, Corrina Tars is the brawn, and Luci Ganley is the brains."

"What…" muttered Angela.

"I know every conversation you've been speaking, every secret you share…Ratchet," he spoke. Champio's voice was deep, but not deeper than Guy's, and he had the voice of a politician.

"Back to the matter at hand!" yelled Angela. "There are many better ways to complete your rise to power! I frankly don't care if you because Galactic President, I only care how you become it!"

"You'd be very good as my speechwriter," spoke Champio calmly.

"Stop trying to change the subject!" Angela boomed. Guy could hear some of Angela's words that she yelled as the elevator reached the ground floor. He had already pulled all of his clothes back on as the elevator went down, and had tapped the 7th floor button so many times.

"Come on!" Guy yelled as he slipped his backpack on, and waited impatiently. He was relieved when the elevator stopped and he ran out, running through the rooms that Ratchet had been in, until he caught sight of Corrina. He slowed down, and squeezed through, joining the argument.

"Ahhh, so the newspaper reporter is finally here," said Champio, who was now facing the door, sitting down in his office chair. Everyone looked back and smiled at Guy, but he just shoved past his friends and slammed his hands down on Champio's desk.

"You listen to me, you little turd," hissed Guy. "You are ruining people's lives, just to get their faith put in you, so you can become Galactic President. Why use pain instead of pleasure? WHY?"

"I'm bored…" yawned Champio. "I think I prefer Miss Cross' arguments." Guy lost it and threw a punch at Champio, but his fist was stopped by the politician's gigantic hand, and was thrown into Angela.

"I agree with Guy," believed Angela, standing back up after being knocked down by Guy. "You could become Galactic President the fair way, by being nice to the people of Bogon, and not cheating the law. You'll be much popular if you let people love you as a nice person, not the man with the most power!"

Champio looked downwards, thinking about what he had been doing. "Do you really want to know why I want to become Galactic President?" Angela nodded angrily. "Because, when I was a child, I met Gohol."

"Gohol?" asked Ratchet.

"Yes, the long-running Galactic President of the Bogon Galaxy," Champio answered. "He was walking through Allgon City on Damosel, where I lived as a child. It was a political visit, as he was going to a special meeting, but he insisted on walking down the streets, meeting the people."

"I think he noticed me because of the green balloon I was holding," Champio went on. "I was scared as he came over to me, but I was relaxed when he asked me what job I wanted to have when I grew up. I said I wanted to the Galactic President, just like him."

"That's when I hated him. He got closer and said 'If you try and still the title of Galactic President from me, I'll make you wish you were never born!' No-one heard him except me, and I was scared to death. I made my life-long goal to be 'take Gohol's presidency'."

"But why do it this way?" asked Angela once more.

"Don't you realise as I put people in fear, I immediately rise to the situation I made myself?" asked Champio. "Gohol doesn't even get a word in because of my brilliant combat plans for my brilliant terrorism plans, and the vote starts on whether we should ahead with. Gohol is being forgotten, and I'm giving the people hope with situations I see coming because they are mine."

"False hope…" pleaded Angela.

"You may be right," said Champio as Angela began to walk off, stunning her. "I mean, if I do become Galactic President, how will I deal with real terrorism? People would start hating me, especially people who would lose family from wars. I should just deal with things the fair way and admit I'm only human. Get some real training."

"You really think so?" asked Angela, touched by Champio's words.

"Well…" started Champio. "Only when I stop launching missiles." He pushed a button behind the desk and two missiles came into view outside the window.

"Run!" yelled Ratchet, the first to spot them. Champio jumped onto his desk and leaped towards the four, landing on top of Corrina.

"I have something special in store for you," growled Champio as the two missiles crashed through the window and exploded on the big metal door, knocking the three that were behind it backwards.

"Let me go!" yelled Corrina, attracting Ratchet's attention. He saw Champio dragging her to the window where his helicopter was floating. Kyra was currently on the ground, crying from the noise. Champio had a pistol and was firing madly at the two that were still running.

As Champio jumped into his helicopter and brought Corrina inside as well, Ratchet ran as fast as he could, leaping onto Champio's desk and hopping out of the window, stretching his arms out to grab the chopper. Ratchet could see his hand coming towards the helicopter, and smiled.

"You're not getting me that easily!" yelled Champio as he pulled the chopper's joystick to the left, and the helicopter flew away, out of Ratchet's reaching. Ratchet felt like his heart was ripping apart when gravity took effect and pushed him downwards towards the ocean.

"I failed…" he cried, and Ratchet watched as the blue of the ocean came closer and closer and closer, until everything went black and the last thing he heard was a splash in the ocean.

* * *

><p>The barrage of missiles continued on the seventh floor. Some missiles now contained lockdown guards that came out when the missile exploded. As Angela (with Kyra in her arms) and Guy ran, Angela fended off the robots in the distance with Corrina's gun she dropped when she was taken, but any of them came close, Guy disposed of them.<p>

The two tried to make their way to the elevator, but when they reached there, they had to wait for it to come up from the ground floor. Guy and Angela were cornered, and they desperately destroyed the guards, but found that when they shot one, two more came to fight.

Guy was desperately slicing all the robots that came near, and thought that he was dead until he heard the "ding" of the elevator arriving. As he turned around, Guy was shocked to find that two droids were already inside the elevator cubicle, but his saw device destroyed them inadvertently.

"Come on!" he yelled to Angela, tugged her shirt. She heeded his advice and backed into the elevator, pressing the ground floor button, and the doors as a guard made its way into the elevator. Angela thought she'd have to kill it, but the doors did the job for her, squashing the robot.

As the elevator came down, Angela took this quiet moment to grab some ammunition from the dead droid, and reloaded her gun. Guy noticed a bullet hole in Angela's backpack, probably from Champio's gun, and realised that nothing inside was damaged.

"Angela!" he exclaimed. "The backpacks are bulletproof!" Angela was pleasantly surprised, but didn't have much time to be happy about it, because the elevator stopped and the door opened.

"Guy!" Angela yelled, running out of the elevator, but stopping when she spotted over five machines coming down the stairs. She blasted them with energy pulses as she and Guy ran across the hall, and they both leaped sideways out of the Clock Tower.

As Angela destroyed the last of the robots, they had already made it to the courtyard. Guy and Angela both laid down in exhaustion, and watched as the seventh floor burned and crumbled, spreading its fire to the sixth floor. Angela put down Kyra and wrapped her in a blanket, getting her to go to sleep.

"I think this is the end of the Clock Tower," said Guy, panting, "I wish we could have just saved the actual clock, because I left my watch at home." Angela laughed a bit, not really in the mood for jokes.

"What's the time?" asked Angela, exhausted so much that she couldn't look at the clock.

"1:13," answered Guy, just before the clock dropped off the tower and destroyed the path towards the entrance, sinking into the ocean. "I can't believe that it's just us now. Corrina's been captured, Luci's dead, and Ratchet is with her in the ocean."

"Yeah, love took over him, and I think that's why Champio took Corrina," said Angela.

"You knew about Ratchet and Corrina?" asked Guy.

"Yeah, I guessed it when he ran screaming out the window to try and save her," she answered.

"So what should we do now?" asked Guy, but before Angela could answer, the seventh floor collapsed and crashed downwards through the entire building, bringing it down with it, until the Clock Tower was no more. "So what should we do now?"

"You're the leader, you think of something…" responded Angela, shocked at the cave in.

"Well…for now, I think we should just sleep," replied Guy, taking his backpack off.

"Good idea," agreed Angela, doing the same as Guy. "I have a few blankets for us." As the two prepared for sleep on the courtyard, Luci Ganley's casket began to float nearer to the site of the Clock Tower, but it was not alone.


	7. Slim and Svim

_Chapter 7: Slim and Svim_

"Hey!" Angela Cross heard a voice yell out while she slept. She merely brushed it off and turned on her side to get herself more comforting. Angela found herself hugging Guy, as she heard the voice once again.

"Angela! Guy!" the voice yelled, and this time she stirred from her sleep. The first thing she realised was that she was hugging Guy, and let go of him, a little disgusted. Angela opened her eyes and looked up, seeing the bright yellow morning sky.

"Hey!" Angela forgot about the voice, and this time heard it coming from her right. She looked over Guy and gazed upon her Lombax friend, Ratchet, sitting on top of Luci Ganley's casket, floating towards them.

"Ratchet!" she yelled, shaking Guy to wake up him. As Angela jumped off the courtyard, onto the shore, the casket jammed it self into the sand. Ratchet was everything but smiling as Angela hugged him.

"I lost her," Ratchet stated, staring into empty space.

"We can still save her," Guy calmly said. "But we'll have to get off Boldan first." Ratchet shook his head slowly.

"I have to get her back," Ratchet stated, still in shock of Corrina's capture. At that moment, a baby on the courtyard started crying. Angela turned to help Corrina's daughter, Kyra, but Ratchet her back.

"I will," he boldly stated, stepping upwards onto the courtyard. Ratchet picked up the crying Markazian baby with a tuft of red hair. Kyra immediately quieted down, giggling when Ratchet brushed his fur over her.

"I will save you, Corrina," he declared.

* * *

><p>Earlier that morning, Corrina Tars walked forcibly out of Champio's helicopter, her hands tied behind her back. Two of Champio's human elite guards met him and Corrina just inside the docking bay.<p>

"Take this woman to the training program," said Champio, touching Corrina's bottom. Immediately, she spun around, performing a roundhouse kick, and clipped Champio in the face. "As you can see…"

The two guards walked behind Corrina and pushed her forwards with their brown staves. The elite guards were dressed the exact same as Champio, but people could tell the difference because of their smaller build.

Corrina could tell from the short journey that they had docked on the flat ship that covered the atmosphere the day before. She had already checked the clock in the spaceship, which said 2:04am. She felt a needle press into her arm, and she yelled out trying to punch on of the guards, but felt her brain lose control of her arm.

She realised she had been drugged and was stripped of most of her energy, unable to make out much of the scenery. When she could, she slowly forgot about what she saw. All Corrina knew was that she was being led through a series of rooms, some large, and some corridor size.

"We're here," one of the elite guards said while the other tapping some numbers on a keypad. The small door opened, and Corrina was shoved into the room by the tip of the staff and she crashed to the floor. She felt her handcuffs being taken off and a metal collar being wrapped her leg.

"Try to leave and you'll feel the most excruciating pain you've ever felt," the second guard said as Corrina laid her arms out, feeling relieved that the cuffs were off. She couldn't feel much of anything, and didn't even know that there were about ten other people in the room with her.

"Hey, ya awake?" asked a voice that sounded perfect for an annoying sidekick. Corrina opened her eyes, but only saw black. "Ya musta tried to beat up the big guy. They drug ya when ya do that."

About five of the creatures in the rectangular room were sitting at a long desk that took up most of it. The other five were standing, apart from the one who just spoke, who was kneeling over Corrina. They all too had collars around their legs. "Ya think ya can stand up?"

The man pulled Corrina up and got her to stand slightly, before dragging her over to the nearest bench. At this moment, Corrina was staring at the man long enough to him to come into focus. He was a plump person, his body shaped like a bell.

"What's ya name?" he asked, being friendly. His head was a little flat, and he had thick, spiky auburn hair, the same colour as Corrina's. He wore thick-rimmed glasses and stared at Corrina with his big hazel eyes. He wore an orange robe with a gold trim over a blue shirt, and his brown pants were hidden by it.

"Affrnnaa Frrs," mumbled Corrina, still trying to fight the drug that was already wearing off. "Corr…ina…Tars," she repeated slowly.

"Corrina Tars?" he asked, and the woman nodded. "Well my name's Svim Cognito," the man replied. Corrina nodded, not caring much, but then felt like she had heard the name before.

"Did you say Slim Cognito?" Corrina asked with slur. Svim immediately shook his head.

"Svim Cognito," he said again. "Slim's my older brother. I suppose ya bought one of his illegal weapon upgrades. Figures, since ya've been chosen for the Pillblin Fighting League."

"Pillblin League?" asked Corrina almost intelligibly.

"Yeah, didn't ya know that?" Svim asked. "Ya've been chosen to fight in a series of battles for the entertainment of ugly, rich people. It's one of these secret things that Champio uses to make money so he can hire his guards and that."

"Ohh," mumbled Corrina. "Plus, I know Slim Cognito because of my friend who has bought products of his. Although, I wish we were more than friends."

"Ah, yes, the cute guy," said Svim. "Soon enough, ya'll find out that he's not like he looks."

"No, that's already happened," replied Corrina, her words eligible now. "KYRA!" Suddenly, everyone in the room was staring at her as she remembered about her daughter. "I hope she's okay. No, Ratchet will take care of her as much as he takes care of me. But he…"

"Oh, so he's the one who would kill himself in an attempt to save the woman he loves," Svim realised.

"And he did…" Corrina wailed. Soon, Svim was left with a crying woman and eight pairs of eyes staring at him.

"I didn't do it…" he pleaded, deciding to leave the woman alone. The other people in the room tried to ignore the crying of Corrina, but all felt guilty about not doing anything. Eventually, someone stepped in to help.

"Hey, it's okay…" said a short, flexible woman, sitting down next to Corrina. She had dark brown hair, tied in a ponytail, and had a tanned body, mostly hidden by a thin, constricting green suit that covered her entire body, except for her head. "We all have terrible things happening to our friends and family, and sometimes we can't be there to help."

"But my daughter…" moaned Corrina, trying to get a good look of the woman.

"Hey, I'm sure the rest of your friends are taking care of everything," the lady reassured. "If they are truly your friends, they will do the right thing." Corrina's tears halted almost immediately after these soothing words.

"Yeah," she agreed, thinking about Guy and Angela with Kyra. "They will."

"And anyway," the woman interrupted. "You'll be out of this place soon anyway. The audience doesn't like having a fighter for too long, otherwise they get bored and start complaining. You'll be out in a week or so. I know my time is nearly up."

"Oh, that's okay," Corrina replied. "I hope Guy and Angela can take care of the lockdown without me. I mean-"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah," jabbered the lady. "You mean the Boldan lockdown? That's some serious stuff if they're trying to fight Champio. No wonder he picked you for this fighting tournament."

"What's your name?" asked Corrina finally.

"Mandy," she responded, holding out a hand to be shook. "I'm actually kind of glad you're here. This other woman, Bertha, got killed a few days ago, and without ten competitors, the show can't go on. Now with you here, I'll be out in no time."

Corrina laughed nervously, finding that Mandy wasn't very selfless.

"Anyhow, you should get some rest," stated Mandy. "Champio likes putting in new contestants immediately so that the audience will be happy and give out some moo-lah!" Corrina nodded, and Mandy led her to the almost hidden door at the other side of the room. A single buff alien man stood blocking the doorway.

"Hey, Mandy," the gruff-voiced man said. "If you want to get to a bed, you have to get into one with me as well."

"Let me handle this jerk," Mandy whispered. She raised her tone immediately and spoke to the bodybuilder. "Sure, I'll get into a bed with you. Just as long it's a flower bed." Corrina was confused as to whether it was a retort or an agreement.

"Yeah, right," laughed the bodybuilder, obviously not swayed by Mandy's remark. He then noticed Corrina standing beside the short woman. "Well, what do we have here?" He immediately looked at Corrina's bottom.

"Hey there, big boy," said Corrina sexually. She strutted over to the gigantic man with a dirty smile. The giant chuckled as Corrina felt his chest, and then moved her hand downwards. She smiled at him one last time, before curling her hand into a fist and charging it into his crotch.

"Oh my god!" yelled Mandy, as the bodybuilder choked, immediately bringing his hands to his private area. He coughed and fell to the ground, as Corrina casually walked over his squirming body. She could hear the claps and cheers of the others in the room, including Svim, as she dived into one of the beds and immediately dozed off.

* * *

><p>Ratchet breathed in deeply as he stood just in front of the same grind rail he had rode six months ago, leading to a room that contained a motherload of bolts and one of Slim Cognito's depots. He guessed that Slim wouldn't be there because of the lockdown, but the shady salesman did have his ways.<p>

Ratchet's face was red with anger as he looked down at his grind boots, the same colour as his face. He felt bad that he had lashed out at Guy and Angela, but he was sure that they knew it wasn't personal.

"How can I rest and continue with this while Corrina is with that Champio creep, who is probably-" yelled Ratchet to them, but he discontinued the sentence and screamed in rage. Now here he was, on the other side of the barren and unusually quiet Silver City.

It was easy to avoid the lockdown guards, as their weekly rounds were over and they were all in different groups, waiting for turn at recharging. The Clock Tower courtyard was no longer safe as forces arrived before the fight to repair the generator vehicles. Ratchet currently didn't know the location of Guy and Angela, but his brain was too tensed to think about them.

On impulse, Ratchet leaped onto the grind rail, and almost fell off due to six months of not using the Grind Boots. He managed to balance himself out, however, and immediately noticed changes in the rail. The power lines that the rails were used for now went around the apartment building, as Ratchet had used steel beams to replace the missing power lines that were being redirected.

However, this was six months later, and the workers had finishing their power line rerouting job, and built the apartment building, which was a big success. Ratchet easily managed to jump over the power generators, and could even vault over them as they were no longer activated due to the lockdown.

As Ratchet rode along, he thought about his fight with Guy and Angela, and didn't tell them that his anger wasn't just over Champio taking Corrina. It was also over Champio's robots killing Luci. Although Guy and Angela had both tried to block Luci's death out of their minds, Ratchet was letting himself grieve.

"Why Luci?" he cried as he jumped over another power generator, tears streaming behind him. Most people would be feeling the adrenaline of grinding a rail, but Ratchet was experienced, it wasn't exciting for him at all.

Ratchet saw that he was nearing the tunnel with the spinning gears inside, and for once was about to get excited, but then realised that the lockdown had caused the gears to stop. He rode unexcitedly, and almost fell asleep. However, the end came sooner than he thought, and almost tripped when quickly securing the landing.

Ratchet felt the familiar touch of the soft grass around his feet. He looked out into the yellow sky, and spotted the sun rising up. _Maybe I shouldn't have shunned them. I mean, Corrina can probably handle herself, and Luci…well, you can't change things that have already happened._

Ratchet slowly trudged into the small room that he had faced last time he was in Silver City. Like before, it was deserted and noticed no difference, although he was unfamiliar with a half-cylinder poking out of the wall. He bent down and took the Grind Boots off, followed by taking his backpack and shoving them in there.

"I wonder…" Ratchet said to himself, pulling out his wrench from his belt. He knew that he still had the Box Breaker attached, and decided to test something. He leaped up high in the air, and slammed the wrench downwards, feeling the force through his hands as the wrench collided with the ground.

A shower of bolts came from all directions in the room, with debris crashing down on the floor. All of the bolts were immediately sucked into Ratchet's belt, bringing the total up to 3,000 bolts. "Hey, watch it," said a calm, shadowy voice from behind Ratchet. The Lombax darted around immediately, his wrench ready to attack.

"Why ya bein' so hostile?" asked a pair of black eyes through a tiny slot in the half-cylinder bump in the wall.

"Slim Cognito?" asked Ratchet loudly. "How did you escape the lockdown?"

"I have a few clients in the political robot business that let me keep my store open during the lockdown," said Slim, rolling his eyes. "But they won't let me use my vehicle or let me leave the planet, so here I am."

Ratchet paused for a moment. "Cool," he smiled.

"You have any weapons you want upgraded?" Slim asked. "I haven't had much business lately, and I know I won't get much in the future."

"Well, I don't have any weapons on me…" began Ratchet. "But, I do have this electric gun." He pulled out the tiny metallic gun that looked somewhat like a cigarette lighter.

"Hey, why have you been through the trash?" asked Slim. Ratchet was confused at how Slim knew that he had found the gun in the garbage. "My little brother, Svim, threw it out before he left this planet due to the lockdown. I had received early word about it, you see."

Ratchet nodded impatiently. "So can I upgrade it?"

"Of course," answered Slim. "I have two upgrades: one that recharges it immediately, and one that increases range. Both 3,000 bolts, of course."

"3,000 bolts?" exclaimed Ratchet.

"Hey, hey, hey, cool it," assured Slim. "Business will be awful during the lockdown, so I need to raise prices."

"I suppose," surrendered Ratchet. "It's all I have, though." A slot opened at the bottom of the bump, and Ratchet placed the gun inside. A minute later, the gun spat out of the slot, falling into Ratchet's gloved hands, and he fired it into the air twice, finding it needed no recharge.

"Now for your fee," said Slim Cognito calmly. Three thousand bolts spontaneously streamed out of the gadget on Ratchet's belt and disappeared from sight inside the slot.

"Thanks so much, Slim," said Ratchet happily. That's when he realised that he had no idea what to do. "Slim, you're probably wondering why I am free from the lockdown."

"Out there saving the world?" guessed Slim.

"Yes," answered Ratchet firmly. "We're trying to get every citizen to escape Boldan, and help overthrow Champio in parliament. But we don't know what do now."

"If I was in your shoes, I'd go the underground highways and restore power to the city, allowing cars, taxis and electrical outputs to function. However, that wouldn't solve the case of escaping on ships, or the political robots, because of some high tech field Champio has put around this place."

"Well, that makes sense," responded Ratchet.

"What were you actually doing in the first place?" asked Slim.

"Well, me and a bunch of friends headed to the Clock Tower where Champio was, to try and convince him to stop this. But we failed, causing the loss of life for one of us, and the capture of another. I suppose I should go find Guy and Angela."

"Good luck to you," said Slim. "If you succeed, business will be great!" Ratchet nodded, smiling, and walked out of the room. He noticed that a bridge had been built to the right of him, connecting the room to the rest of the city without use of a teleporter.

"Here we go, then," breathed Ratchet to himself, slowly taking the bridge.

* * *

><p>Guy Milligan stood over a hot barbecue, cooking three patties to put in their burgers. He was preparing a third burger for Ratchet when he came back. Angela had spotted the propane barbecue in a closed down shop, and "borrowed" it.<p>

Angela had prepared food and ingredients in one of the backpacks, in case they were able to cook it, and she was thankful that she did. She was wearing a baby carrier with Kyra sleeping inside that replaced the backpack, and was still wondering she was going to carry them scooped up two patties with his spatula, and placed them inside the two sliced bread rolls.

"Ready!" Guy announced, and Angela came over to collect her burger. Guy gave his to Angela as well for safe keeping while he put the last patty inside Ratchet's. As Angela turned to sit up against the wall inside the alleyway they were situated in, she spotted Ratchet walking in.

"Hey, Ratchet!" she yelled happily, trying to ignore the fight they had earlier. The Lombax looked up, having not noticed them, and smiled quickly. He was glad that nothing had stopped their friendship, and was even happier when he spotted Guy turning around with an extra burger.

"No hard feelings?" asked Ratchet, walking all the way up to Angela, who proceeded to give him one of the burgers. Guy bit into burger he had while turning off the barbecue. Ratchet walked over to the barbecue and placed a slice of cheese inside his burger, making it a cheeseburger.

"So where did you guys find this?" asked Ratchet, who walked over to the wall with Guy and Angela, sitting in between them.

"Oh, I borrowed it from a closed shop," said Angela sheepishly. "Along with this watch that I can use to tell the time." At that instant, she looked at the watch and found it said 9:53am. Ratchet nodded as Guy spoke to him for the first time.

"So, what are we going to do now to help the citizens of Boldan escape?" asked the deeply voiced man.

"Actually, while I was away," began Ratchet, and he noticed that Angela was looking at him with content. "I found Slim Cognito. He upgraded a weapon for me and said that we should head to the underground highways to restore a power generator there, allowing the citizens free access across the planet."

"But won't the robots shoot them?" asked Guy, grabbing a box of cigarettes out of his coat.

"Yes, but it will restore electrical power and YOU SMOKE?" asked Ratchet, noticing him light one up.

"Hey, it's my lungs that are hurting, not yours," responded Guy. Angela realised that Ratchet couldn't argue with that.

"I think that we should power up that generator first, and then take on the lockdown guards," stated Angela. "Will it power ships though?"

"No," answered Ratchet. "Champio has put up a field around the planet that only allows ships to fly inside the atmosphere, preventing escape. But I reckon that if we had a ship big enough and strong enough, it could break through the field."

"But the ship would have to be the size of the entire city," replied Guy. "Personally, I think it will be easier for us to split up. Having only one person on the generators would be ideal, without the hassle of someone falling behind. Plus, there may be some tricky platforming to do."

"Well, I think that you should go and power up the generators," said Angela. "I haven't spent much time with Ratchet lately."

"Yeah, I suppose I'm the only one fit for the job," bragged Guy. Ratchet and Angela began to jeer at his bragging, but had a good laugh at the end. Ratchet was the last to finish his burger, and threw the scraps in the nearby bin.

"So, shall we go?"


	8. The Underground Highways

_Chapter 8: The Underground Highways_

Corrina Tars woke up at around 11:00am, getting a decent amount of sleep for her age. Mandy was sleeping in the bed next to her, but from the way she was rustling around she was either waking up or going to sleep. Corrina struggled to open her eyes and felt a headache from the uncomfortable sleep she got. She had known since she was a child that she was a bad sleeper.

That was when she realised why she got worse sleep than usual. She still had her backpack on when she entered the ship, and had kept it on when she went to sleep. It had been on Corrina so long that she forgot about it and felt it as a part of her body.

However, the backpack was no longer on her. It was now beside the bed, and open. _Someone has gone through my belongings._ She immediately looked inside to see if everything was in there. All of her personal stuff and makeup remained in the backpack, but the weapon she stole from a lockdown guard was missing.

"Must have just been a guard," she muttered to herself. Corrina heard the loud snoring of someone in the room, and then realised that most of the competitors were sleeping as well. She counted only three people awake as she walked out into what seemed like a dining room/kitchen/recreation room.

The door that Corrina was thrown through that morning opened, and one of Champio's elite guards walked in, his staff poised. "Corrina Tars?" Corrina looked at the other men in the room, but they seemed to be too busy checking out their muscles.

"Yeah, that's me," she answered sheepishly.

"Your first battle will begin soon." The guard made no expression on his face as he spoke. "You have fifteen minutes to change and prepare. If you need privacy, there is a bathroom next to your sleeping quarters."

"Okay, thanks," replied Corrina, ready to ask who she was facing.

"Dyril Waltham," the guard said next, and one of the men who was talking to his friend looked over to the guard and put his hand up. The guard went on and Corrina knew that she was facing this man. She studied his body, looking for some weak point, but couldn't find any and just decided to go for the crotch.

Corrina walked back into the sleeping quarters, noticing that Mandy was fast asleep. She looked in the backpack and searched for something that would be comfortable to fight in. She automatically assumed that they would have to fight melee style.

Eventually, Corrina found a comfortable and tight pink top, along with black tracksuit pants. She looked around for a door and found it at the end of the room, on one side of the wall. The other side had another door, but she'd have to explore it later. Corrina walked into the bathroom and five minutes later, she came out.

As she did, the blonde haired Dyril strode past her and entered the bathroom with his clothes. When the guard came back to collect the two, Corrina was sitting at the long table, fiddling around with a folded piece of paper and Dyril was also on the table, but extremely distant from her.

"Miss Tars and Mr. Waltham," the guard spoke unpleasantly. The two nodded and stood up simultaneously. Corrina sighed, and walked out with the guard, fearing the fight ahead.

* * *

><p>Guy Milligan stood just near the grind rail Ratchet had rode earlier that morning, and looked over at the bridge that connected a landing pad to the nearest entrance to the underground highways. His dark coat and magenta umbrella were both in his backpack, revealing his grey T-shirt.<p>

Holding the backpack, Guy walked onto the beautiful ivory marble bridge. He felt the breeze on his face as he walked across, and before he knew it he had reached the platform. He didn't want to step off of the glimmering bridge, much more beautiful under the sun.

As he reached the elevation pad in the middle of the platform, he was thankful that it was turned off at the bottom, leaving a huge hole down to the underground highways. Guy dropped the backpack and opened it, searching for the harness he had placed in there before Ratchet, Angela and he split up.

"There you are!" he exclaimed, finding the harness and securing it around his waist. Twenty minutes later, he had built a pulley rig and attached himself to it, now wearing his backpack. He lay holding the rope. The only thing that was keeping him from falling was his outstretched legs causing friction against the edge of the platform.

Slowly, Guy lowered himself down, occasionally stopping against the edge to make sure he didn't go too fast. Gradually, after about a minute, he had reached the bottom, and immediately dreaded what he saw at the bottom.

Unclipping his harness, he walked to the small edge where the non-existent highway was situated. It was just a tunnel of air, and Guy realised that the cars would hover through it, instead of drive. Guy, in his entire article writing career, had never been to the underground highways, and literally took it as a highway.

"Shit!" he cursed, knowing there'd be no way to traverse the highway, and even if he could find some way, he wouldn't know which way to go. Guy looked left, right and straight ahead, counting the three paths he'd have to explore. Finally, he looked down, but could only stare into darkness, and knew that if he jumped, he'd be crushed.

"But…" he muttered as looked back at the pulley rope, but knew that there'd be no way to go down. Finally, Guy looked up and almost looked back down when he noticed a series of bars running along all three paths. He yelled in joy, but his expression turned grim when he saw that despite his tallness, he would not be able to reach the bars.

That's when he remembered the rope that he had used to get down to the highway. He walked back over to it and tugged it hard. Nothing happened, so he tugged it again. Thinking back, he understood that he had tied a knot so the rope would come loose. Guy became angry with himself, but knew that we wouldn't have come this far if the rope slipped.

"Still!" he scoffed to himself, tugging the rope once more, fueled with adrenaline. For a few seconds, it was a tug-of-war with the knot and Guy himself, but he then stopped as soon as he listened to a snap. Guy darted his cranium upwards and witnessed a rope falling down through the luminosity.

Guy laughed out in triumph as the rest of the rope crashed down, plenty to throw up in through the bar. As he looked over at the bars in the distance, with more light to help, he found that they looked like ladder rungs, the kind you found nailed to a wall.

Guy Milligan strode back to the edge, grabbing the end of the long rope, and threw it up towards the nearest bar. The rope missed and stopped down in the darkness. Guy pulled it back up, and lobbed it once again. As expected, the rope missed, a repeat of the last attempt.

As he yanked the cord towards him once more, he knew that he should get it soon. Fueling up anger, thinking about Luci's death, he pitched the rope another time. Success! Incredibly, the rope sailed through the bar like a needle and thread, and fell down, stopping just in front of Guy.

"What?" he yelled in disbelief. "Oh, I am the man!" He grabbed the two ends of the rope, and in seconds performed a slipknot. He pushed the slipknot up, and then used a technique to pull the knot until it was tight and secure around the bar.

Guy wrapped his legs around the rope and climbed upwards, stopping very quickly. He tugged on the rope, making sure it was stable, and then continued to climb upward. He felt the gravity increasing, and it was harder and harder to climb. His hands began to grow red from the roughness of the rope, and he didn't need to worry as he had reached the top.

Guy kept the rope tied, as he would break his legs if he dropped down at that height. He hung on the bar, and slowly reached one hand out to the next bar straight ahead of him. _The journey may be long, but it's worth it._

* * *

><p>Angela stealthily sidled along the recharging station, looking up at the sun. It was situated directly above her, so she could tell that it was sometime around lunch. She gazed around the corner of the vehicle, noticing Ratchet hiding behind a closed-down stall, with Kyra in his arms.<p>

Angela was surprised to see that none of the hundreds of robots waiting for their turn on the recharging vehicles had not seen her or Ratchet. She pulled a tiny pencil-shaped red laser pointer, and flashed it three times towards Ratchet. She could barely make out Ratchet noticing the flashing, and was glad when she received three green flashes back.

"Great," she whispered, soft enough that nearby guards couldn't hear. She watched intensely as Ratchet lobbed a small stone over to the middle of the recharging station, creating a loud "tink" as it landed.

"What was that?" yelled one of the droids, as the rest turned to where the rock had landed. All the robots from everywhere near the recharging station gathered to middle, around the rock.

"Exactly according to plan," Angela muttered, standing up and sprinting across another courtyard where the stations had been placed. The guards all turned towards the sound of her running, and began to shoot, staying in the middle.

Angela smiled as she looked back and saw Wormy scuttling along, as he had planted the explosives in each of the stations. She was too fast for the gunfire to hit her, and as she reached the stall, she slid and disappeared behind it. As soon as Angela stopped, she grabbed a small remote control out of her belt and pressed the only button.

Ratchet covered Kyra's ears as an explosion rocked Silver City. The entire droid squadron at the station had been obliterated, and the front end of the stall was scorched by ashes. Ratchet and Angela kept their eyes closed until the roaring force stopped.

"Don't you think that was a little much?" yelled Ratchet, almost deaf from the sound. Angela tried to answer, but couldn't think over the cries of Corrina's child. Angela shushed Kyra until she went to sleep, and by that time her hearing had returned to its previous state.

"We should get out of here!" she yelled. "The other guards will have heard the explosion and will come running here." Ratchet nodded, holding his ears in pain, and he stood up. He placed Kyra inside Angela's baby carrier and moved into the alleyway behind them.

"That's one of the recharging groups taken care of," said Ratchet softly, feeling the aftermath of the pop inside his ears. "I suppose we don't know where the others are and how many there are."

Angela stopped and smiled. "Well, actually, on one of the vehicles while I was sneaking around, there was a map of the entire city with locations of each of the groups marked out." Ratchet scoffed happily as Angela pulled out a rolled piece of parchment from behind her back.

Ratchet snatched it away joyously and opened it. The map was crudely drawn, with images of the buildings simple squares. However, he could make out one recharging station (marked by an X) near an extremely large building, which obviously meant the Clock Tower.

"So, we've taken care of this one and this one," said Angela, crossing out each as she pointed them out. Ratchet looked around the map at the three remaining, and decided to go to the nearest one.

"We should go here, down at the bottom, but let's wait a while until the commotion of that explosion dies down." Angela nodded in agreement.

* * *

><p>"Are you ready to witness the power of our newest contestant? Welcome…The Nutcruncher!" Corrina rolled her eyes as she listened to the ring name given to her, knowing that her actions the night before hadn't kept quiet. She walked out into the light, which soon became a circular arena floating in blank space, with fat rich people and hovering chairs gathered around, many eating caviar.<p>

Corrina looked down, gazing through the transparent green arena, mixing well with the black. When she looked back up, her opponent, Dyril, had begun to walk out. "And now, her familiar opponent, the undefeated Spaghettificator!"

_Great, he's undefeated,_ thought Corrina. _Why do I never get the easy opponent first?_ She looked back as she walked to the middle, and saw that there were two elite guards standing near the doorway she walked through, and as her head turned back, she noticed two shadows from where Dyril came in, and knew that they were the same.

Corrina and Dyril met in the center, and shook hands. Corrina could tell that he wasn't going on her thanks to the force of the handshake. "Begin!" the announced yelled suddenly, and Corrina was punched in the temple before she could realise what was happening.

"I'm going to have fun with you," beamed Dyril as Corrina felt to the ground, and he pinned her down as she began to stand up. Corrina struggled for a moment, but then remembered her ring name.

"The pleasure's all mine," spoke Corrina calmly, confusing Dyril for a split second. In this moment of vulnerability, Corrina let one of her arms loose and grabbed Dyril's crotch, squeezing it tightly. The bulky man squealed in pain, the roars of the audience increasing.

"Although a little shaky at the start, the Nutcruncher has pulled through with her special namesake move!" yelled the announcer. Corrina kicked Dyril up, causing him to lose his balance and topple over. She then leaped up and slammed her foot down on the family goods.

"Surrender," sneered Corrina. Dyril tried to move her foot off, but she was too tensed to let his hand move it.

"Fine…" coughed Dyril and he held his hand up high.

"Oh! It looks like the Spaghettificator has forfeited the match! Victory to the Nutcruncher!" Corrina let her foot off of Dyril's private parts as the elite guards on his side of the arena ran up and carried him off, while her guards just escorted her out.

After being led down a series of hallways, the guards then opened a door using a keycard, and Corrina was pushed back into the contestant's room, and Mandy was immediately there to greet her. "That was great! You're going to put me to shame."

"Sorry," Corrina replied sheepishly.

"You shouldn't be!" Mandy exclaimed happily. "The audience will get bored of me because of your skills, meaning I can get out of here faster!" Mandy was jumping with glee, so happy that her time to leave was near.

"Well, that's good," Corrina said anxiously, wanting to get into bed because she had pulled a muscle in her leg while battling, and wanted to rest it. The two were interrupted by an elite guard walking in, shoving Corrina out of the way.

"Miss Yord and Mister Cognito," the elite guard spoke, and Mandy and Svim both placed their hands up. "You will be next in the battle arena." At that moment, Dyril wobbled in, immediately placing his hands over his crotch when he noticed Corrina.

"So, you'll be battling next?" asked Corrina once the guard was gone.

"Yeah, and it looks like I'm against Mini-Slim," she responded. Svim turned to Mandy and punched her arm, before walking off to prepare. "Anyway, I better go prepare for my battle. Wish me luck that it's my last." Corrina nodded, exhausted from the battle, and followed Mandy towards the sleeping quarters after she had already disappeared.

"Well how are you doing, Nutcruncher?" asked the bodybuilder, blocking the door. He sounded friendly, but Corrina knew it was a ruse.

"I don't believe I got your name," said Corrina, forcing the bodybuilder to respond with an answer he didn't usually give.

"Fine, it's Baws," the man said. "Oh, and you'll find you cannot try that move on me again." He pointed down to a steel codpiece. Corrina felt disgusted for having to even look down there. Baws didn't notice her disgust, because his eyes were too fixed on her firm, round breasts.

"I'm going to have fun with you," Baws growled, and suddenly Corrina felt as though she trapped. As Baws was about to cup one of her breasts, a hand reached down from behind him, squeezing through the codpiece and performing Corrina's famous move.

Baws squealed like a girl as Corrina dodged his falling body. Baws hit the ground like a concrete slab, and Mandy Yord was the girl that stood in the sleeping quarters behind him, smiling with glee. "Baws-tard." A few giggles rang out through the main room as Mandy sat down at one of the benches and began to put on a pair of combat boots.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Corrina, quickly rushing into the sleeping quarters, and repeating what she had done that morning, dozing off immediately.

* * *

><p>Guy felt that his shirt had lifted, exposing his belly-button as he gradually traversed the bars. Guy could barely see in front of him, even when he squinted. It was hard to keep hanging for a long time, and he felt the strain on his arms, feeling as though they could rip off any second.<p>

More quickly now, he began to grab each bar as soon as possible, and knew that if he didn't hurry up, he would fall and die. He had total concentration until he saw a flicker of light as he reached out again, distracting him enough to let his other arm loose. Guy realised that he was no longer holding anything.

Gravity took effect and Guy plummeted, sensing that he it would be a long journey down, but got the wind knocked out of him when he hit ground instantly. Guy looked up, his body quavering from the force of the impact, and knew that because he could see the bar he fell from, there was ground beneath him.

Guy stood up slowly, his arms shaking, and saw that he had landed at a platform similar to the one he came in, with an elevator at the exactly same place. However, there was no sign of a power generator. He had chosen the wrong path.


	9. Power Play

_Chapter 9: Power Play_

Ratchet could still feel the explosion, even though he had placed plugs in his ears. His hands were currently over Kyra's ears as Angela detonated the explosives they had placed on the vehicles that recharged the lockdown guards.

After the dust had cleared, Ratchet looked up, feeling a little better than the last time they had blew up the recharging stations. He saw that nearly all of the robots had been destroyed, although a few had escaped and were pointing their guns at him. After a quick count, he now knew that there were six of them.

"What's going on?" cried Angela, feeling weak from the explosion, and when she saw the lockdown guards, she fainted immediately.

"A lot of help you are," Ratchet said sarcastically to the limp body of Angela, taking the fact that they had been defeated lightly. "So, what's going to happen now?" The droids were obviously confused at Ratchet's behaviour.

"We're going to kill you," one at the front of the pack said. "You destroyed our kind and we'll now destroy your kind. Starting with her." The robot pointed his gun at the crying baby's face.

"Well, that's nice," said Ratchet, whipping a small silver gun out of his belt and firing it twice towards the group. The robots all deactivated, and he shushed Kyra to sleep. He then wondered how he was able to hear the robots with the earplugs. He felt around his ears and noticed they were gone.

"Ratchet…" muttered Angela, stirring from her unconsciousness. The male Lombax looked down near Angela, and found one of his yellow earplugs, which were previously white until he had placed them in his ears. The explosion had popped them off.

"Angela, I'm here," muttered Ratchet, helping the weak furry creature to sit up. Angela moaned, and tried to stand up, however Ratchet stopped her.

"Lemme puke," Angela cried, and suddenly Ratchet was as far away from her as possible. She leaned over to the side away from Ratchet, and regrettably listened to the retching sounds that come out of her mouth. Spontaneously, she remembered that Wormy was on that side, and when she looked at the yellow mess, she spotted the black Worm-droid floating inside.

"SORRY, WORMY!" she yelled. Ratchet crawled back around the corner, and picked up Kyra from her resting spot at the stall. Angela was disgusted as she picked Wormy out of the vomit, and cleaned it off him. From the weak sounds he was making, it didn't look like he appreciated being covered in Angela's puke.

"We need to get out of here," Ratchet stated, keeping his distance from the sick Angela.

"I'm feeling better now," Angela responded, and she slowly stood up. Her balance was a little wobbly, but she remained stable after a while. "Well, that's all of them." The two had rushed around Silver City all day, destroying the three remaining groups of recharging stations, and they knew that most of the droids had been blown up, but there might have been a few droids straying from the main groups. The robots Ratchet had deactivated we're still a threat, as they could activate any time soon.

"What if Champio sends more guards down?" asked Angela suddenly, and Ratchet felt as if their work had gone to waste.

"What do you think Corrina is doing right now? She's probably on that big ship right now taking care of things. Plus, we learnt when Champio was broadcasting on that computer that the droids would be doing weekly rounds, so we've probably got five or six more days until more robots are sent. We can free the people by then."

"I guess," Angela agreed, however she wasn't completely sure.

"What should we do now?" asked Ratchet as he scooped up Kyra and led Angela down an alleyway.

"I think we should get back to Guy," Angela muttered. "Looks like the power isn't back on."

"Yeah, he might be having a tough time with the fact that there's no way through the place without something that hovers," Ratchet laughed. "I'm glad we chose to blow stuff up."

"That's a little mean," said Angela. "You know, I feel weird talking around you." Ratchet looked at her confused.

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"It's just I've never met a Lombax in my entire life," answered Angela.

"Me neither. Unless you count my parents, who I don't even remember."

"What do you mean you don't remember them? Actually, now I think about it, I never got to learn of your past."

"I was abandoned as a child," said Ratchet, answering the first question. "I grew up in Kyzil Plateau, where a few local families helped to take care of me. I made friends with the children of those families, but they all left to explore space. I never met another Lombax."

"Our species must be rare then."

"Well, that sucks because ever since I was little, I wished that I'd be able to find more Lombaxes, and possibly have one of them be my girlfriend," Ratchet answered. "But that wish looks grim. Anyway I-"

"There's always me," whispered Angela, stopping along with Ratchet, and she began to lean in for a kiss.

"No, Angela, I don't mean-" Ratchet's voice was muffled as Angela covered his mouth with his lips. He fought back first, but then started to enjoy it, and they continued snogging for a few seconds. He then realised that he loved Corrina, and was trying to tell her that, and he pulled back immediately.

"Why did you do that?" panted Ratchet.

"I thought you meant...I'm sorry!" cried Angela.

"No, it's my fault. I misguided you, and didn't correct you quick enough."

"And I also forgot that you love Corrina," the female Lombax muttered.

"What? How did you know that?"

"Don't you remember when you yelled after Corrina was captured? It blatantly told us that you love her with out actually saying the words."

"Oh," moaned Ratchet, his panting stopping. He looked forward. "Hey, we're nearly there." Ratchet walked out of the alleyway, and was on the familiar path that was right near where Ratchet had parked his Star Explorer during his last adventure, and where it was parked right now, however Guy wouldn't have recognised it.

"Come on!" Ratchet yelled, trying to forget about what Angela did. He liked Angela, but only as his friend. Corrina was the one he wanted. He rushed with Angela down the steps on the landing pad that looked more like a garden. He was glad that a bridge that connected the pad to the entrance of the underground highways, where Guy was trying to connect the power.

* * *

><p>Corrina was disappointed for Mandy Yord when she walked back in with a frown on her face. She could tell by that frown that Mandy hadn't been permitted to leave the Pillblin Fighting League. Corrina opened her mouth to speak, but the short woman walked straight past her and headed into the sleeping quarters.<p>

Corrina had woken up half an hour ago, and she was now eating a horrible dinner provided for her. She looked at the clock and it read 5:23pm, so she knew that back on Silver City the sky would be starting to turn grey. There was still about half of the mushy food on her plate, and she knew she couldn't stomach it all.

Corrina moved to the sleeping quarters, wondering if she could talk to Mandy, however, when she went inside, Mandy was fast asleep. She didn't even hear the guard coming inside to announce the next battle. Corrina decided to find Svim, just to have someone to talk to, but when she came out, he and Baws were missing.

"Where's Baws?" Corrina asked to no-one in particular, guessing that Svim was getting medical attention, but one of the men Dyril was talking to was kind enough to hear the question,

"He's battling with Scrawny," he answered, and Corrina would have expected him to begin to talk to Dyril and his other friend again, but the man's attention seemed focused on her body. "I don't believe we've met. My name's Flint."

"Corrina," she replied, knowing that Flint was interested in her. _He's kind of cute. Masculine, but caring enough. But when I look at him, all I can think of is Ratchet. _Flint reached a hand out, and Corrina shook it swiftly.

"I thought you'd be just like Mandy, but you're a lot prettier," Flint said. Corrina felt like blushing, but made sure it didn't happen.

"Thanks. So who do you think will win between the two? And who's Scrawny?" They began to move to the two Holo-visions that were situated on the wall that had the door on it. Corrina looked back at Dyril, wondering if he didn't like her, and Flint noticed this.

"Don't worry about Dyril," Flint assured. "He knows that in everyone's head, when you're in the arena, you want to kill them, but out of the arena you're on good terms with them, like the fight never happened. Unless you were already on bad terms before." Corrina was relieved, and turned back to the Holo-visions.

"Oh, yeah," said Flint, remembering the question Corrina had asked. "Baws will win definitely. He's never been defeated. On the other hand, Scrawny's nickname tells you everything about him, and he hasn't won a single match, so I feel he'll be leaving soon, unless the audience likes comedic effect. That probably why Champio chose him."

"I wonder if I'll face Baws," Corrina muttered.

"If you do, you'll win no doubt," Flint complimented.

"Thanks," Corrina smiled. Their conversation was interrupted by the audience's cheers as Baws picked up the weak Scrawny and threw him out of the arena. Scrawny fell for a bit until he was teleported back onto the arena, although from a height the force from the impact stood. Scrawny then placed his hand up.

Corrina knew the fight had finished and she began to walk off with Flint to the table. As soon as Corrina sat, Mandy staggered out of the sleeping quarters, not being able to get much sleep. "Hey, you okay?"

"Miserable," answered Mandy, sitting down next to Corrina. "I hope I only have one battle left." The three talked for five more minutes until both Baws and Scrawny were escorted in, and everyone listened as the guard began to speak.

"Miss Tars and Miss Yord, you are next in the arena. You have 15 minutes to prepare."

* * *

><p>Guy had already swung across monkey bars down the left path, to no avail, and was almost back at the crossroads when he noticed two Lombaxes talking at the entranced to where he came in. "Bloody hell, where have you two been?"<p>

Ratchet and Angela were shocked at Guy's behaviour, and didn't dare to laugh when they saw how silly he looked swinging across the bars. They waited patiently as Guy jumped down and rested his arms.

"I have a present of you," said Ratchet as pleasantly as he could, pulling out a Momentum Glider from behind his back.

"You use it," panted Guy. "I can't handle this anymore." Ratchet shrugged to Angela and she helped put the Glider on Ratchet.

"Which path?" asked Ratchet to Guy, and quickly pointed to the right.  
>"Wish me luck," Ratchet yelled jumping out hearing that familiar sound when the Glider activated and he felt like he was swimming in air. The Glider was obviously much faster than climbing on the bars, and Ratchet was through the winding path and onto the platform in less than a couple of minutes.<p>

As soon as the Lombax landed, Ratchet noticed a huge light bulb, shaped like a cylinder that was almost camouflaged because it was deactivated. He looked around for a switch, and could barely make out the dusted red handle on the right side of the wall.

Ratchet awkwardly ran over to the switch and whacked in downwards. The bulb immediately sprang to life, and a sea of lights lit up Silver City as the sun gave up its natural light. Ratchet was blinded by the purple electricity that was flowing into the bulb, and immediately began to glide back.

As Ratchet glided back towards Guy and Angela, he seemed to be racing the lights as they came on. Gradually, the furry figure of Angela into view, but Guy was camouflaged due to his dark suit. Angela had a look of glee on her face as Ratchet glided with the lights, making the area much more visible.

The first thing that nearly every citizen of Silver City did was try to find an explanation for the sudden restoration of power on their laptops and computers. However, all they could find were rants by Champio and his supporters. Just when some were starting to not bother, Guy Milligan appeared onscreen.

"People of Silver City, I am local newspaper reporter Guy Milligan." Guy was still in the underground highways as the background was dark. "I escaped this lockdown with a few other people. The radiation is a hoax. The bomb was not nuclear. We have restored power to the city, and it is rid of the guards. However, we will know that more will arrive in six days maximum. If you decide to leave your homes, do not stray far, and if you see any sign of a huge ship coming into the atmosphere, run."

"In these remaining five or six days, us, the group that escaped will try to destroy the field preventing escape and hopeful overthrow Champio in the process. If robots arrive, we'll send a message throughout all computers saying to get back safely in your homes. A quick warning is that at least six more robots are out in Silver City. If you want to leave your homes, bring a weapon just in case, preferably a projectile. If you have any information that will be useful to our cause, please send us a message. We'll keep this window open, but you can go back to your computer business."

With that, the window reduced in size, and was now able to be minimised and closed. Guy waited for a few seconds on his laptop that was in his backpack, stolen from one of the shops during Guy and Angela's morning raid. Ratchet and Angela were unseen in the window, but were listening to every Guy said.

"I have information," said a voice that was only familiar to Angela. She bumped Guy out of the way and saw another window containing Angela's local butcher, Eric.

"Eric! Out of all the people, you have information?"

"Angela? You're a part of this group?" he asked, almost as shocked the Lombax.

"Well, I kind of got stuck trying to escape and I had to return the favour to Guy, Corrina and Luci."

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Eric. "Do you mean Corrina Tars?"

"How do you know Corrina?" asked Ratchet, coming into view.

"She was my wife until about a year ago, where I messed up when reacting to her pregnancy, and she left me," Eric shamefully answered.

"So you were the jerk who left her?" snapped Ratchet. Eric was a bit shocked, but didn't show it. He assumed that Ratchet was Corrina's new boyfriend or something and took the outburst lightly.

"She's actually calling me a jerk? Wow, I must have messed up real bad," Eric answered. Ratchet felt a little sorry for the butcher, and regretted yelling at him. "Can I see her?"

"Ummm, about Corrina…" Ratchet muttered.

"Champio got her? I heard a rumour that someone was taken during the assault on the Clock Tower, and when Angela mentioned Corrina, I got a hunch it was her. Angela, is that your baby?" The female Lombax forgot she was handling the sleeping Kyra, and even forgot that she had a bottle in her pocket, ready to feed her when she woke up.

"No, she's not mine," said Angela, bringing Kyra sleeping body up to the camera. "Say hi to your daughter, Kyra." Eric was close to tears when he realised that it was his child, and wanted to hold her.

"Carrying Kyra around must be tough and dangerous, so why don't you leave her at my place?" pleaded Eric.

"Will Corrina approve of that?" asked Ratchet, a little hostile of the butcher.

"Corrina knows that it's not in my nature to harm anyone close to me, so she'll still be mad but will know I took care of her."

"Okay, we'll drop her off, and then we'll go…" Angela stopped when she remembered that Eric had information to tell. "What info do you have for us?"

"Oh yeah, I knew I was forgetting something," Eric said. Guy was getting anxious. "One of the members of Champio's party visited about a week ago. He let a few secrets off to me, such as a hidden switch in the city to turn the field off. He told me the field was for security reasons in case of stolen ships escaping, but something told me he was lying."

"Apparently, they've hijacked one of those old robots of Abercrombie Fizzwidget to respond to their messages in case they want the field turned off. However if any other people try convincing him of something, he'll run. He's currently in the Gravitron Building in the east part of the city, and I've heard the switch is through a gravity maze that only robots can go across, due to their circuitry allowing the gravity to work, because if you walk in there with a robot, the gravity goes only one way."

"You may be able to ride on the robots back if you can reprogram him, but you'll need to find some robots of your own. Maybe with one of those six droids that are around. That's about all the information I have."

"Thanks a lot, Eric," said Angela. "I'll put in a good word with Corrina after we rescue her."

"Cheers!" exclaimed Eric happily, and the window closed. Before anyone could say anything, Guy forced his window onto every computer in the city using a hijacking program.

"We have a new announcement, thanks to information given," Guy spoke in his rich, deep voice. "If you come across one of the lockdown guards throughout the city, if it is possible we would like you to deactivate and reprogram it so it is no longer hostile. Deactivating it will be good enough if you have no reprogramming skills."

"We understand that this would be difficult, so if you have any droids that we are able to ride on, they would be helpful. We will only need two, possibly three. Thanks for your help." After Guy had finished his speech, a car hovered past on the highway, causing the three to smile at the inhabitants cheered for them.

"So, you ready to leave?" asked Guy, looking back at the now active elevator waiting for them. The two Lombaxes nodded, and stepped onto the elevator. As it was going up, Guy remained quiet but Ratchet and Angela chatted to each other.

"Will you need a robot because don't you have Gravity Boots?" she asked to him.

"One, the gravity in the maze only works for robot's circuitry and two, I didn't bring them," answered Ratchet firmly, as if he was expecting the question. The elevator reached the top quickly, and a silver lockdown guard waited for them at the top.

"Oh, hi there," said Ratchet calmly. "We've been looking for you. Thanks for rising to the occasion." As the droid expected, Ratchet whipped out his electric gun. The robot lifted his leg up and kicked it away.

"We've been monitoring your tactics," the guard said in a scrambled, strange voice. Ratchet felt defeated, and no-one but Angela realised that Wormy was scuttling to the electric gun behind them. Angela waited patiently as Ratchet reasoned with the droid, and opened her hand.

Wormy made an "mmph" noise as he tossed the gun upwards, leaving Angela to snatch it out of the air and fire at the robot. "Good job, Angela," said Guy and went behind the guard and opened a door on its back. Ratchet and Guy worked together to reprogram the robot, and eventually they both thought the droid was no longer hostile.

"Let's fire this baby up," mentioned Ratchet, and he bonked it with his wrench to start it back up. The guard powered up, and it looked blankly at Ratchet. "Hmmm…" Ratchet jumped to the left, and the robot followed him with its eyes. Ratchet took two steps back, and the droid took two steps towards him. "He's harmless."

"That's one robot down," said Angela. A loud whistling sound took the three's attention. They all looked up at the source and found a wrecked spaceship plummeted down towards the ocean near them. "That thing must have crashed through the field! They're mad." As the ship neared, the top of it opened and a tiny figure jumped out, gliding slowly over towards them.

"Who is that?" asked Guy, being the only one able to see the body of a silver robot, except it had green eyes, a single antenna, and a Heli-pack installed. As the floating figure came closer, Ratchet and Angela both simultaneously realised that their old robot friend had come to help.

Clank touched down in the middle of the triangle that the three made, and only Guy was wondering who this robot was. "Clank, you're crazy!" yelled Angela in a way that sounded angry, but at the same time happy to be back with their old friend.

"How did you know we needed a robot?" asked Ratchet.

"You know how I joined the Megacorp Electronic Hijacking Taskforce a month ago?" Clank said in his robotic voice.

"The MEHT, yes," Ratchet nodded.

"I tapped into a transmission given by this man over here." He pointed at Guy, who was waiting to ask about Clank. "It was coming from Silver City, and I was shocked to find that power had returned, and I listened in to see what he was doing. But when I saw you and Angela come into the picture while talking to that butcher, I knew I was missing out on an adventure, and I thought I'd become one of the three droids you needed."

"I managed to convince the Taskforce to not fine you for hijacking because they were helping the cause of freeing Silver City, which many in the MEHT agreed to, and so they let me go down to the planet to help you. I'm surprised they spared one of their ships."

"Oh, now I remember you!" exclaimed Guy, shifting the attention to him. "You're the sidekick!" Clank looked at him angrily. "No wait, you're the hero and Ratchet's just the butler or something." Now Ratchet looked at him angrily. "Do I have to say you're both equally awesome?" The two nodded. "Crud."

"So, shall we set off to that butcher's place?" asked Clank. The three nodded once. "I have a lot to learn on the way."


	10. Fizzy

_Chapter 10: Fizzy_

Corrina stood face to face with her new friend, Mandy. They both in a transparent green arena with a rich audience cheering around them. "Alright!" exclaimed the announcer. "It's time for the Nutcruncher to face Flexibo!" The two waited for the battle to begin.

"So, who should win this one? Should we both fake being hit so we don't actually hit each other?" asked Corrina, not wanting to fight her friend.

"Don't you remember the traditional meaning of the arena? Enemies within, friends outside," whispered Mandy. "I say we fight like real opponents, and no matter what injuries we get, we'll still be friends." Corrina nodded.

"Well, the Nutcruncher is going to have a tough time facing an opponent without any," the announcer said, and the audience roared, wondering if the already famous Nutcruncher will still be able to fight well without her namesake move. "Begin!"

Immediately, Corrina darted beside Mandy and hooked her foot around hers. Before Mandy could respond, her feet were pulled out from under her, and she landed flat on the ground. Corrina aimed her fist to punch Mandy's stomach, but her opponent grabbed it and swiftly pulled her over her body.

Mandy jumped up and slammed on Corrina's legs, preventing her from getting up, and Mandy then throttled Corrina's neck, throwing the crowd into a fit of cheers. However, as Mandy punched and weakened Corrina, the cheers died down and the audience began to get bored.

When Mandy went for another punch, Corrina grabbed her arm and used it as a pivot to swing around and sweep Mandy off her feet. When Corrina got the upper hand again, the audience loved it and cheered and whistled. Corrina dragged Mandy to the edge of the arena, ready to throw her off. She waited until the cheers got really loud, and then pushed Mandy off by her feet. Corrina looked over and was shocked to find her opponent had grabbed onto the ledge, and before she could react, Mandy had jumped up and headbutted her nose.

In this moment of weakness, Mandy performed a perfect roundhouse kick and Corrina was left plummeting to the darkness. She was prepared when the black turned to green and she hit the ground hard. Corrina could no longer get up. Regrettably, she held her hand up.

"And the match is over!" the announcer boomed. "The Nutcruncher couldn't find any nuts and so Flexibo downed her like a squirrel!" Mandy didn't many cheers, but she was glad because that meant the audience was getting bored and she'd be realised soon.

"Are you okay?" Mandy asked Corrina, whose nose was bleeding, and she gave her the thumbs up. The two guards helped Corrina up, and within a few seconds she disappeared into the medical bay. The other two guards remaining had taken a while to reach Mandy, and when they did, they had good news.

"Miss Yord, you have been relieved from the Pillblin Fighting League. You may head to the contestant's suite to gather your belongings, and when you are ready, we'll escort you out." Mandy smiled and ran into the entrance/exit to the arena to tell everyone.

"Guys, guys!" she yelled once she had reached the contestant's suite. "I am being released!" A flood of cheers came towards her as the others (except for Baws) congratulated her achievement. After the celebration died down, Mandy began packing all the little items that were given to her by other contestants into her purse, the only thing she brought along.

"Mandy!" yelled Corrina who entered the room with a Band-aid on her nose. Mandy heard her call her name and she dashed out of the sleeping quarters and hugged Corrina tightly.

"I'm getting out!" she yelled in joy. Corrina laughed with her, but felt a little sad that she would alone and that the only person who had really helped her through this would be gone. Corrina sniffed a little, and Mandy felt sorry she'd have to leave Corrina.

"Don't worry!" Mandy exclaimed. "I did fine when I was alone! Just talk to some of the boys." Mandy noticed Flint was looking over at Corrina, and she tapped her shoulder. Corrina gazed at Flint and smiled, deciding to keep him in mind if things between her and Ratchet didn't' go well.

"Well, I guess it's time for you to say goodbye," muttered Corrina. Mandy nodded and quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek. She waved and ran out of the room, close to tears. Corrina knew that it was over. Mandy was immediately stopped by a guard, who then escorted her down a series of hallways.

Eventually, a bulky bouncer took over who stood in front of a door and he led her inside. The room looked modern, and was blank except for a chamber at the end of the room, which had a window on the other side. "Step inside the chamber."

Confused, Mandy complied and opened the glass door. A panel shot up from the ground in front of the bouncer, and Mandy shut the door behind her. "So do I choose where I get teleported or something?" The bouncer didn't answer and tapped a few buttons, before finally ending with one. The window behind Mandy shot open and she was sucked out into space, unable to breathe.

At that moment, she realised she had been lied to, and that people weren't really taken home, because then they'd tattle about the fighting league, and instead they were killed. All Mandy thought about when her oxygen supply ran out was Corrina, and realised that she'd suffer the same fate too. She wanted to tell her that it was a trap, but she had no hope and just as rested until her life came to an end.

* * *

><p>"I have a question," said Guy as the four of them reached Eric's home. "How are you supposed to ride on Clank if he's smaller than all of us?" Ratchet chuckled.<p>

"Show him, Clank," he said and Clank responded by spontaneously transforming into Giant Clank, shocking Guy but it was expected by Ratchet and Angela.

"Okay, that shut me up!" wept Guy, looking straight up to try and see Clank's face.

"OH MY GOD, IT'S A GIANT!" yelled a woman from a distance. This was followed by screams, and the sound of running footsteps.

"Do not be afraid, I am here to help against the lockdown!" pleaded Clank. The running and screaming stopped, and all the citizens who had seen Clank were trying to trust him. They were glad when the giant disappeared, as Clank transformed back to his tiny form.

"Let's head in, I suppose," stated Angela, and she knocked on the door three times.

"I bet you're jealous that this man got to Corrina first, eh?" asked Clank. Everyone shushed him as the door began to open.

"Angela, my dear!" yelled Eric happily. He was dressed in a striped red shirt and jeans. His short black hair had been greased. "So, this is my daughter?" He looked down at the sleeping baby in Angela's arms, and Eric lightly picked her up.

"Kyra…" he whispered, and Angela began to tear up from the emotion between the father and daughter. Corrina's child woke up, and was confused at the fact that she had never been in this man's arms, but for some reason it felt right.

"She's beautiful," he said, also getting teary-eyed. "Thank you, I'll just…" Before he could finish the sentence, he had already shut the door.

"I hope Corrina will be alright with us leaving her here," muttered Ratchet, imaging her yelling at him and telling him off.

"Tell her that it's for Kyra's safety and she'll give in," Angela said, smiling. "She can't disagree that it's too dangerous."

"Clank, I'm afraid I can't ride on you," Ratchet stated as they set off again to the Gravitron Building. "This robot thinks I'm its master." He pointed his thumb back to the lockdown guard he had reprogrammed, and he realised that it probably thought he was his mother, like a baby bird.

"I'll ride Clank then," exclaimed Angela. "And Guy will ride the Fizzwidget Bot, right?" She looked beside her, but found that Guy was missing. The three of the looked around, and it didn't take long for them to find him in front of Eric's door, speaking on his laptop.

"We have already found two robots to use, but if know of a robot that can help us, please keep it in mind, just in case." Guy's announcement was short, but it was broadcasted all over the city, even onto the Holo-visions and game systems, thanks to the MEHT.

"Hurry up, Guy!" yelled Ratchet anxiously, and the man in the dark coat quickly shut the lid of his laptop and ran over to the group.

"Wait, one more thing," he said, opening the lid again. "If you own a store and you are missing a barbecue, a watch and a laptop, they were stolen by us to help with our cause. We apologise for this, and will pay all expenses. Please contact Guy Milligan after the lockdown is over."

"Can we go now?" asked Ratchet, obviously bored.

"Yes…" muttered Guy, packing away his laptop. The group chatted as they wandered towards the Gravitron Building, trying to keep their minds focused on remembering which way gravity was normally pulling.

The Gravitron Building was built over ten years before lockdown. It was the first building in the entire galaxy to be focused on the laws of gravity using practical methods. The stairs going up from the ground floor turned the person walking up until they were literally walking upwards. The stairs continued upward through many floors consisting of some desks for theoretical work, and the fourth floor contained the gravity maze, used for testers of Gravity Boots and also for contests, where the first person to reach the end won a prize.

However, just before the lockdown, the maze was unknowingly hijacked by Champio's political party, and a switch for the field was placed in the building, ready for the lockdown was scheduled to end three years later. It was 10:35pm when Guy, Angela, Ratchet and Clank reached the building, and although they were beginning to tire out, they were all too excited about the maze to feel the effects.

Guy knocked on the door, and waited five seconds. At that moment he kicked the door down, and immediately noticed the Fizzwidget Bot rolling towards the stairs at the far end of the room. "Get that robot!" he yelled, and the two Lombaxes and Clank ran after it.

"We need to give this thing a nickname, instead of just Fizzwidget Bot!" yelled Angela as they ran upstairs, with Guy lagging behind.

"Is this really the time for nicknames?" yelled Ratchet back.

"I was thinking about Fizzy!" she hollered.

"What?" exclaimed Guy.

"Fizzy, for the nickname!"

"Oh, I suppose, just shut up!" boomed Ratchet. Angela did so as they felt the effects of the gravity changing, and it seemed like they were on the floor, when in actual fact they were on the wall like a fly.

They managed to keep running at good pace, enough to stay at the same speed as Fizzy, even though the new sources of gravity tripped them up a bit. It wasn't long until they had reached the gravity maze, and Fizzy taunted them before jumping onto it. Guy ran forward and leaped onto the robot's back disappearing as it ran.

"Come on!" exclaimed Ratchet, sitting on the lockdown guard's back, who had followed him everywhere. Clank transformed into a giant, and thankfully the entrance was just big enough for him to squeeze through with Angela on his back.

The gravity maze was completely green, with a few thick black lines that were noticeable. There were also large white walls creating the barriers for the maze, meeting unevenly in the middle. However, there was no sign of Guy.

* * *

><p>"Some of us are beginning to form a speculation," said Flint to Corrina quietly as they sat on the dining table. Corrina nodded in agreement, anxious to hear what he had to say. "Once, there was a great competitor, one of the first, and his name has been mentioned down through nearly every competitor, and his legend had kept alive. But once he was released, no-one heard from him ever again. A year later, his body was found floating in space, and nothing could reveal what had happened to him."<p>

"Ever since, whenever someone is released from the competition, they are never heard from, ever again. On a few occasions they have been found floating in space, sharing the same fate. Plus, doesn't it seem strange that the Pillblin Fighting League has kept quiet all these years even though many have been released. If we get released, we should kept hostile and try to escape if anything gets suspicious."

Corrina nodded again and again. "I also have a little secret," he whispered. "Come with me." The two stood up and moved to the sleeping quarters. Flint walked to his bed, and Corrina expected that he was going to make a move on her. However, he pulled a case from under his bed and opened it, revealing four bottles of champagne.

"I've wanted to share these with someone, but I haven't been able to find the right person…until you came." There were two glasses in the case as well, and he poured the contents of one bottle into them.

"Thanks," she said as Flint offered a glass to her. After a few rounds of champagne, and a friendly chat with Flint, Corrina woke up the next morning with no recollection. When she did wake, she immediately knew that she was in bed, and thought that she had passed out and Flint had put her to sleep.

Corrina moved her leg slightly, and then felt another beside her. She looked down and saw that she was naked, and to her worst fears, Flint was laying next to her naked as well. "Oh my god!" she cried, and Flint began to stir from his sleep.

Corrina didn't want him to know that she had slept with him, and quickly whipped her clothes back on, and gently slipped Flint's boxers back on him, so it seemed like he had slept alone. She removed any trace of their love-making just before Flint woke up completely.

"Good morning, Corrina," moaned Flint, sitting up and clutching his head. "Man, I must have drunk a lot last night because I have a massive hangover." Corrina nodded.

"I can't remember anything from last night either," she lied. "We must have both just went to sleep."

"Yeah, I guess," Flint replied, feeling a little weird, like more had happened. Corrina heard the door to the sleeping quarters opening behind her, and Svim Cognito wandered in.

"Corrina, a guard jus' came in," he said in his accent. "Ya're up in the arena, and ya facing Baws. Good luck, ya gonna need it." Corrina rolled her eyes, wanting to have a break from these battles.

"Thanks Svim," she said, and the two were left alone. "Damn it, how am I going to beat Baws?" Flint stood up out of bed.

"I know how to beat him, and it's not with the Nutcrunch," Flint explained. "He'll obviously have some protection around that area. But his left foot is weak, and one stamp to it will have him on the ground for minutes at a time. After he's down, the match is all yours."

"Thanks so much!" Corrina exclaimed, walking up to him. She looked into his eyes for a while, and then moved her lips in. Flint read her mind and her with his lips, engaging in a deep kiss.

Corrina clicked and realised that she was still in love with Ratchet. She had been trying to fight it down, wanting to start a new relationship with Flint, but couldn't stop thinking about him. She immediately pulled out from the kiss, shocking Flint as tears began to grow in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" asked Flint nicely, not taking any insult from how she reacted to the kiss.

"I'm sorry, it's just someone else…" Corrina cried, and she ran out of the sleeping quarters in tears. Some of the other participants wondered why she was upset as she ran to the two guards at the end of the room. "I'm ready." The guards took no emotion in her tears and led her out of the room blankly.

By the time Corrina arrived at the arena, she had stopped crying, and the two guards were relieved. "Are you ready for the Nutcruncher to face the undefeated Baws of Steel! The perfect couple, don't you think?" The announcer went on as Baws and Corrina got ready.

"This match, Baws of Steel really has balls of steel, as he had provided himself protection around his weak area. Remember, the Nutcruncher has only been defeated once, due to the fact that her opponent had no nuts to crunch! Will she be able to perform her namesake move here as well?"

Corrina did a few stretches, while Baws flexed his muscles to the audience. Apparently Baws was just a popular as Corrina, because they were both being cheered for, some unable to decided who they wanted to win.

"Begin!" the announcer yelled, and Corrina ran towards Baws, and jumped to the right as she got close, stretching her left leg outwards so that it collided with Baws' stomach as she went. Baws felt it a little, but it didn't deter him from spinning around to face Corrina.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time," he growled, clutching Corrina's neck tightly. She choked and tried to pull it away, but to no avail.

_I'm done for, aren't I? Wait, didn't Flint say something about his left foot?_, thought Corrina. She looked down and was sure that it was his left foot that was weak. Able to only use her legs, she stamped down on the foot that was left to her. Nothing happened.

"I know what you're trying to do!" Baws growled, reaching down to grab her legs. But quickly Corrina realised her mistake in stamping his right foot, and rapidly slammed her foot down on the huge monster's left foot, which was right of her.

Baws squealed in pain like many times before, and everyone in the audience was confused as to what happened. "Did the Nutcruncher break through the Baws of Steel? Or did she find some other weak point?" The announcer noticed Baws clutching his left foot as he fell to the ground. "It seems that his left foot is weak, and the Nutcruncher saw this. Shall we change her name to the Footcruncher?"

Corrina had the match in her hands now. She kicked the side of Baws body as it would tip his body off the arena, and waved goodbye as he plummeted down. She looked back to the middle of the arena and saw Baws' pitiful body hit the ground.

The drop is what took the most out of competitors, and Baws was the same, raising his hand to quit the fight. Baws' drop hurt even more as the steel plate around his private area was the first to hit the ground and sent a shockwave to his pelvis.

"And Baws of Steel has been eliminated! I guess the Nutcruncher had steel hands to crunch them with! Although she had been defeated in her previous match, the Nutcruncher is coming back to the top!" Corrina lifted both of her hands high, and realised that it was pleasant to be cheered for by hundreds of rich people.


	11. Apples Falling

_Chapter 11: Apples Falling_

Morning came to Silver City, although Ratchet and Angela could not tell as they slept in the gravity maze that they had been travelling in, lost for hours. There was still no sign of Guy Milligan, as he had been separated from them after Fizzy had rode off with him into the maze.

Ratchet was the first one to wake, having slept uncomfortably on the reprogrammed lockdown guard's back. The front part of his torso was sore, having marks from the robots back on it. He pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper from his pocket.

Ratchet had kept track of where the gravity was directed by marking their point on the cubic gravity maze, and after a full gravity circle, the gravity was normal, pulling downwards. Safely, he jumped off and was glad that he wasn't falling anywhere but down, because the gravity in the maze only worked for a robot's circuitry.

"Angela!" he whispered, and got a mumble back. Angela Cross was on top of Giant Clank in the air where even Guy could see him, if the walls didn't block the vision completely. The female Lombax awakened and was scare to find that she was up so high, as Clank was only in power down, and was still standing.

Due to Angela's clumsiness, she toppled over the side of Clank's indent at the top of his back, and fell straight into Ratchet's arms. "You're always clumsy, aren't you?" Ratchet propped Angela up until she was able to stand straight.

"Any sign of Guy?" she asked.

"You're welcome," said Ratchet sarcastically. Angela laughed guiltily. "Well, we'll never where Guy is until we reach the switch for the field. But at the moment, we should keep looking." Angela nodded, finding the gravity maze more boring than expected.

"How are we going to keep this interesting?" asked Angela, extremely unhappy with going through the mediocre maze.

"We could talk about stuff," Ratchet answered. "That's how people keep anything interesting." Angela nodded again, and they both woke their robots' up, climbing on board.

"So what are you going to do about Corrina?" Angela asked as the lockdown guard followed Clank, who tried to figure out which way to go. Ratchet didn't answer, feeling down about not being able to do anything.

"We'll have to remove the field from the top of the city before I'll be able to help her, unless she's on that huge guard ship and it comes down to send more of them robots." He bonked on the lockdown guard's head to prove his point.

"Hopefully the field will be down by the time that happens," Angela replied.

"Yeah, but we can't be certain." The four of them reached a ramp which bended upwards on the wall. "Another one of these. We have to be careful to stay on our robots, otherwise we'll fall to our deaths." The two parties slowly angled upwards, until they were vertical.

"So how has life been in Silver City, you know until the lockdown?" asked Ratchet. The group walked around a bend.

"Well, you know, a peaceful life," Angela answered. "I actually much rathered it to this adventure. Everyday, I did a daily exercise routine, and the great thing is a get to work at home. Occasionally I had to go to the Clock Tower to send weapon plans and prototypes to Megacorp, but other than that, it was peaceful and lazy. One time during the six months between adventures, I had to go to an awards ceremony in the Maktar Nebula because one of my gadgets was voted "Most Creative Design" and it won!"

"Why didn't you mention it before?" asked Ratchet, shocked at her achievement.

"I never really thought about it due to the lockdown and all!" Angela complained. Silence fell for a few moments.

"What was your opinion on Luci?" Ratchet broke the silence.

"I've really been trying not to think about her. Sometimes during the night, when no-one can hear, I cry for her loss, even though I didn't know her well. It really destroyed the group a bit, because we didn't have the massive brains figuring the hard stiff out for us. Like she could have reprogrammed Fizzy within a few seconds."

"Yeah," Ratchet agreed. "I felt the same way about her. Especially witnessing all the blood and having to put her out to sea. We could have learned a lot more about her." Once again, the foursome reached another gravity ramp. They walked up with ease.

"This should be the one directly opposite of where we came in," Angela remarked. "Hopefully this is where the exit to the switch is. Let's go!" The two robot's marched at full speed.

"So, Clank," Ratchet said. "What have you been doing while we've been sweating our asses off trying to save this planet?' Clank took Ratchet's comment lightly.

"I've been watching the news, trying to gather some sense into this lockdown. The explosion is supposed nuclear, however there's no radiation. When citizens began to get out and about on the planet, the news reports confirmed that the radiation was a bluff."

"Why didn't you come sooner?" the female Lombax asked.

"I had to be sure that Ratchet was okay and that the MEHT approved before I could come," Clank responded. "And what time to come would be better than when you needed a robot?"

"I guess," Ratchet said. "Are we there yet?"

* * *

><p>"The Nutcruncher has unsurprisingly won again, defeating the Punching Bag easily!" The audience roared as Corrina raised her fists up over Scrawny's tiny lime body. For the crowd's enjoyment, Corrina stomped on him twice.<p>

The guards that were approaching stopped her as they carried away the puny figure. Corrina felt tired and gladly let the two other guards lead her out. Corrina couldn't wait to see Flint again, as he was the only one Corrina could really trust.

Corrina entered the contestant's suite and immediately noticed that Flint wasn't in sight. She spotted Svim chatting to someone and walked over to him. "Hey, is Flint sleeping?" Svim grimly shook his head.

"He's been released," Svim answered. "The guard wouldn't wait for ya battle to finish, so Flint was forced to go."

"Did he send me a message or something saying goodbye?" Corrina asked in fear. She couldn't believe that Flint didn't say goodbye.

"No, unfortunately…" muttered Svim, who realised that a repeat would happen of when he first met her and walked away. Corrina sat down on the bench and shook her head in disbelief, realising that she would never see Flint again.

_Wait, he's going to try and escape? Then I'll see him again, and we can get off this ship! _Corrina smiled and waited in peace, knowing Flint would be back soon. After five minutes of waiting, Corrina began to get worried and at the same time a guard walked into the room.

"Miss Tars, a message for you!" growled the unappreciative guard. He placed a folded piece of square paper next to her on the table, and she was anxious to open it up. As the guard left, few other competitors crowded around her to see the message.

Corrina noticed this, and decided to read it out loud. "Dear Corrina, by the time you read this I'll be already trying to escape…or worse. As I wasn't allowed to wait for you, I decided to write this message about you. Firstly, about our relationship." Most of the people around her decided to chatter to each other while Corrina got through the romantic part.

"I decided that since this may be the last time I get to see you, I'll say it outright. I love you." Corrina began to tear up. "If we both survive, I want to do unspeakable things with you that will tell the world that we are in love! Because I am writing this as I am being lead to the "release", I want you to know that if you hear gunshots, that means that I am escaping, and I request that you and the other contestants help me."

"If we work together, we can overthrow the guards and Champio, and be sent home. I've arrived at the room now. The guard is telling me to walk inside this glass cubicle, with what seems to be a window behind it. I know that this isn't safe. Prepare to hear gunshots. Sincerely, Flint."

The contestants all remained quiet as the message ended. "Well, you know what do to!" exclaimed Corrina. "Grab any possible weapon you can find and let's do this for our lives!" Surprisingly, Baws agreed along with the others. Corrina realised that he valued his life as much as anyone else.

One minute later, a guard outside of the contestant's suite heard a knock on the door. He opened it, and who they knew as the Nutcruncher was on the other side. "Excuse me, but there's a big and scary spider inside the bathroom. Can you big strong men take of it for me?"

"It's only a spider," another guard laughed, walking to the door.

"Please! It's also getting quite hot in here so I might as well take off all my clothes." This is what convinced the guards.

"Alright, little lady," the guard who opened the door said. "We'll help you with this big scary spider." The guards followed Corrina in, and began to take off her jacket. As the guards closely watched her, Baws and Dyril crawled behind them and twisted their necks.

"Let's go help Flint!" Corrina yelled as she slipped on one of the guard's uniforms while Dyril dressed in the other. In the guard's uniforms, the main weapon was a staff, but they also used a gun during scrapes and when they needed to alert other guards.

"You guys stay here until you hear trouble, and then come after us," Dyril stated, and the rest nodded in agreement. The two armed contestants ran out of the room and straight the left corridor, because that was the direction the guards led Flint.

"You stay hidden, because you're a woman," Dyril stated. "Only male guards are allowed, and I look like most of them so they will think I'm one of them. I'll talk, you'll fight." The two checked around a corner, and they spotted only one guard patrolling.

Dyril nodded to Corrina and formally walked around the corner, gathering the guard's attention. "Excuse me," Dyril began. "I'm only new to the force and I was wondering where the 'release room' is."

"You don't have to lie around me," the guard, scaring Dyril and Corrina. "You can just call it the execution room around me." Dyril's emotions mixed with relief because he was safe and fear that Flint was in trouble.

"It's just at the end of this corridor, go right, and it's the second door on the left," the guard explained. Dyril nodded and before he could say thanks two gunshots fired off from the execution room area. The guard darted around and Dyril took this opportunity to knock him out with the staff.

"Come on!" he yelled and Corrina ducked around the corner towards him. They both sprinted over to the execution room and bolted the door open. This bonked a guard who was about to open the door unconscious. Corrina cried out when she saw Flint's dead body in a pool of blood, with two bullet wounds in his back.

* * *

><p>"Slow down!" yelled Guy loudly, clinging for dear life on the back of the haywire Fizzwidget Bot. His voice was loud enough for Ratchet and Angela to hear, and they knew that Guy wasn't too far away. "SLOW DOWN!"<p>

Guy felt dazed as he opened his eyes. Fizzy had crashed into a wall, and Guy had been thrown off, sliding down the wall as they were vertical. He had hit the ground hard, but felt decent, and looked upwards. Fizzy was deactivated, but too high for Guy to reach up.

However, Guy tried in vain, managing to scrape and scratch his way up, but could not touch Fizzy. "So close!" he gasped, and thought of something that would be funny but could possibly work. He backed up as far as he could, and sprinted towards the gravity ramp.

Guy's momentum carried him upwards, but he could feel the gravity pulling him back. He knew that we wouldn't reach unless he took a dive, and gave it a shot, scrunching up his ears. He opened them, happily shocked that he was lying on the wall, holding Fizzy's arm. Just touching a part of robot's body made the gravity active for Guy.

To be sure that he would stay up, Guy yanked a short rope out of his backpack and wrapped it around his foot and Fizzy's mobility sphere, keeping them touching. He then opened up the compartment that was standard for being on the back of a robot. He reached inside his backpack again and pulled out a journal.

Guy rested the journal on Fizzy's back, and opened it up to a certain chapter. It was titled "How to Override Programming." As he worked on undoing Champio's lackey's work, he remembered how Luci Ganley gave the journal to Guy before he went upstairs to help Ratchet and Angela in the apartment building.

"Guy," she had spoken in her broken language. "If me no around, journal help programming." She had pulled out a journal away from Corrina's sight (who was searching for food) and placed it Guy's hands.

"Thanks," Guy had said smiling, and then went up the stairs. As the present Guy worked on Fizzy, he was wondered if Luci somehow knew that her end was coming soon. _It's not possible. Now, I think that's all I need to do to make Fizzy disobey his programming. I can't believe Angela thought up of the name Fizzy._

Guy closed the compartment, and boosted Fizzy back up. He forgot that his foot was tied to Fizzy, and quickly detached the rope from around them. He climbed on Fizzy's back quickly, who was looking around bewildered, before spotting Guy on his back.

"Would you like a free Protopet?" the Fizzwidget Bot asked, sounding exactly like the man himself. Guy decided to play along.

"If you get me out of this maze, I will," Guy said cheerfully. The robot nodded and moved along at a nice pace. Guy felt pleasant, knowing that Fizzy wouldn't be going haywire anymore. As they went around the first corner, Guy was face to face with two droids, but there were no people riding them…

* * *

><p>Corrina cradled in a hidden corner, bewildered over the display she had just seen. When Corrina saw Flint's body, she bawled her eyes out, and for her safety, Dyril moved her into a deserted room and closed the door behind her as more guards closed in to attack.<p>

Dyril didn't lock the door in case he didn't survive, and nobody would know about her inside. Unfortunately, the room could only be unlocked from the outside, like a vault. In the breakdown, the only information Corrina gathered was that everyone else was in on the battle, and that only Flint was dead of the contestants so far.

A guard bolted into the door, but Corrina didn't care and just kept crying. The guard noticed her, and for a change felt sorry for her. However, he knew that a crying woman wasn't a big target, and so he left the room to rejoin the battle, leaving the door open.

Corrina wanted to help in the battle, but couldn't bring herself to stand up, knowing that Flint was dead. She didn't love Flint as much as he did to her, but she was distraught and had a problem coping with death. She was traumatised by both deaths, and found that she was only truly affected when she was close to them.

Corrina was distracted by a figure appearing in the doorway, and it turned out to be Baws. He didn't notice her, however, because he was backwards in the doorway, being pushed back by a guard who was parrying with him. While the guard carried a staff, Baws was carrying a pole he had ripped off a weightlifting bell.

_What should I do? Baws is in trouble, and I'm sitting here sulking. This is not how I should use my physical power! Flint may have died, but I will too if I don't do anything! _Suddenly she leaped up, and attacked the guard with the staff she still had, knocking him back.

"Corrina!" Baws yelled, sounding angry. "Where were you? We could be in control of this ship with everyone bowing to your knees if you hadn't disappeared!" Corrina realised that Baws always sounded angry.

"Flint…" Corrina began, but stopped. "I don't want to talk about it. Let's just own this guy's ass!" She blocked the approaching guard's attack, and pushed him back again. The two strong competitors walked out of the room and sent a wave of attacks at the guard, until he surrendered.

"Stop!" he gasped, but before they could make a decision he fainted. Two more guards approached from both sides, and they both took Corrina and Baws on. After a minute of parrying, Corrina dealt the finishing blow on her guard, and as she turned to face Baws' guard a shot fired.

Corrina had no time to stop and her staff continued upwards, knocking a gun out the guard's hands as fired a second shot, but because of Corrina's interruption, the bullet from the gun come out of the barrel while it was facing the guard.

The guard fell to the ground dead, and Corrina felt a little better about Flint's death. "You can relax now, Baws…Baws?" She turned around and her eye twitched when the same thing happened for the third time. Her hands shook and she dropped the staff, bending over the heavy body of Baws.

Baws lay on the ground with a bullet wound in his stomach, surrounding by a circle of red blood. "Not again…" stuttered Corrina, holding Baws' hand.

"It would have happened eventually," Baws growled slowly, having a touch of friendliness. "Corrina…I hate your guts, but you're awesome in battle…and that's all I care about. You came from Boldan…didn't you? Corrina nodded hastily.

"God, you're shaking like you drank 100 cups of coffee," he laughed, feeling the pain of the bullet wound. "I have to let you know something I found out. The spaceship's coming into the atmosphere of Boldan as we speak. They're sending more robots. Warn your friends, and escape while you have the chance."

"There are four one-man escape pods straight downstairs. Gather as many of the contestants you can, and escape with them. There are only six of us left, after I go. My friend, Tom, died. You'll be able to fit five in, because Scrawny's...well, scrawny. Get everyone out, though. Save yourselves." Tears slid down Corrina's cheeks as Baws closed his eyes. Because his information had been passed on, he could literally rest in peace.


	12. Magenta Blood

_Chapter 12: Magenta Blood_

Ratchet and Angela continued with the reprogrammed lockdown guard and Clank through the treacherous gravity maze. There was nothing to describe inside the maze. Every corridor had tall white walls and everything else was lime green. There were no differences when going around corner, apart from the odd wall placed here or there and if they were lucky, a ramp that changed the gravity pull.

It was getting towards lunchtime when Clank stomped along, and spotted two figures in the distance. "Ratchet, look!" The Lombax obeyed, and originally wondered if they were on the normal gravity pull, and that Guy was walking alongside Fizzy. However, upon closer inspection, Angela's eagle eyes noticed that they were the exact same figures, and they were silver.

"Lockdown guards!" she yelled so hard, that her clumsiness toppled her backwards off of Clank's back. While Angela thought she was going to die as she plunged down, Ratchet simply hopped off his robot and caught her swiftly.

He propped her up, and an energy pulse passed by his ear, singeing it slightly. As Ratchet clutched his slightly burning ear, Angela whipped out her own energy pulse gun that she had taken when Corrina was captured, and fired away at the two oncoming guards.

"They must be strays!" yelled Ratchet. "Champio can't have sent more!" The energy pulses missed as the guards came closer, spraying their own fire. Clank took this chance to practice his combat and he fired missiles down at the guards.

The robots exploded on impact, and the two Lombaxes began to relax, until a mob of over twenty droids came into view. "Clank!" Ratchet yelled. "There's too many." More and more came, as if there were unlimited amounts, and Ratchet knew that they weren't astray.

"They've sent more," Angela gasped, crawling onto Clank's hand while Ratchet jumped on his programmed guard. "Let's go!" The two robots turned the other way, and ran. They found plenty of forks in the road that halved the numbers of guards coming each time, but that didn't prevent the mass of robots that charged towards them.

Ratchet and Angela sat facing the guards behind them, and didn't understand why Clank and other robot had stopped until they had turned to ask. There was a figure lying down across the corridor, a ring of blood around it. Fizzy was next to it, clearer in view, deactivated in pieces.

Not caring about the swamp of robots behind them, Angela slid down Clank's back, having a hunch about who was dying. Tears began to slowly flood out of her eyes, and her fears were confirmed as the puddle came closer.

Guy Milligan had a gigantic hole in his stomach, obviously from an energy pulse, and his limbs were outstretched as he struggled to breathe. Angela kneeled down beside him as Ratchet caught up. No-one was wondering why the robots weren't advancing. Clank was keeping them at bay with his missiles and bombs.

"Guy…don't die!" pleaded Angela. She waited for Guy to speak, but even though he could open his mouth, nothing would come out. Desperately, she kissed his cheek, trying to make the most out of his last moments. Guy put his hand up, signalling for her to stop.

"Fr-free...the city..." gasped Guy, using the last of the breath in his lungs. "S-s-save…Cor-corrina…" Angela's eyes widened as Guy's head fell back, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. She screamed out loudly in terror, realising that she had some small feelings for Guy.

"He's…he's dead…" muttered Ratchet, his heart beginning to race. "I can't believe he's dead. We're lost without him." Desperately, Ratchet grabbed the saw gun, in case he needed it later. Angela's screaming body fell into Ratchet's arms as he stared blankly into space, shocked. He gazed over slowly to the battle between Clank and the hundreds of guards, and found the reprogrammed droid was destroyed.

"I can't just lose Clank's life as well…" he whispered, letting go of the weeping Angela. He strode to Clank's side and pulled out the electric gun. After a brief pause, he fired it all over the place, deactivating every robot that was coming towards them.

"Guy…" yelled Angela, muffled because her face was buried in the ground. Ratchet, ignoring the horror he had witnessed, yanked Angela off the ground, and stepped onto Clank's hand. As they were carried to Clank's back, Angela moaned loudly.

"Angela, there's nothing you can do anymore…" Ratchet whispered, hiding his true pain about Guy's death. The two reached Clank's neck, and Ratchet had to drag Angela over to the compartment, as she no longer had the will to stand up.

"I don't want to go on…it's too dangerous!" she moaned back.

"Look, you can have a rest now, but you need to help us free Silver City." Ratchet then tried to change the conversation. "Have you seen Wormy anywhere?" Angela shook her head, and then felt something in her hair.

"Ahh!" she yelled, scratching it. "There's something in it." Ratchet looked around on top of her head, and was surprised to see Wormy pop out, making a playful sound. Clank marched along past Guy, walking along the only path that was there.

"So you okay about Guy?" asked Ratchet.

"A little bit better," moped Angela. "That's for the distraction." Ratchet nodded, and decided to sit down next to her.

"Ratchet, look!" Clank yelled, forcing him to stand up and look over Clank's shoulder. A gigantic rectangular opening appeared before them in the ground, with a gravity ramp going in. "I hope that's the exit!" Ratchet nodded in agreement as Clank walked onto the ramp.

"Is that a switch?" asked Ratchet, trying his best to look as they were turned upright. Clank reached the end and then stood inside an average-sized rectangular room. A lever (like the one in the Orvus Chamber) was situated in the middle of the room.

The rest of the area was blank, but the ceiling was so high up that it was impossible to see. "There it is!" yelled Ratchet, sliding off Clank's back. Clank temporarily transformed into his tinier form, and rudely threw Angela off. Ratchet stared at the lever, knowing that this was it. This was the end. This was what would free the people of Silver City.

"Come on, Ratchet!" yelled Angela, her tears drying up. Ratchet grasped the lever and slowly began to pull. At first he thought that he had pulled the lever back so far that he had fallen over, but when he opened his eyes, the lever hadn't been pulled far at all.

"Ratchet…" gasped Angela and the Lombax looked to his left. A tall man in a dark ninja-like outfit stood beside Angela, with a knife at her throat.

"Before you ask," said the gruff-voiced man. "My name is Lance. I am Champio's closest accomplice, and my duty is to capture you. Now where is the newspaper reporter?" Angela burst into tears spontaneously.

"He…" Lance listened so intently that he dropped his knife. Ratchet whipped out his wrench and tossed it towards Lance. However, Lance was trained in agility and in the blink of an eye he was on the wall, watching as the wrench came back towards Ratchet.

"Tyrone, Joshua, Randy, Billy!" Lance yelled, and four identical figures rolled onto the ground from the high ceiling. Ratchet caught his wrench, and knew he would be no match for the four ninjas. He bolted towards the lever, but two of them had already reached it.

"Angela!" Ratchet yelled as Lance jumped down towards her. Angered for Guy's death, knowing that Champio was to blame and Lance was supporting it, she threw her right arm upwards in a fist which collided with Lance's temple. Ratchet ran towards her as the four other ninjas rushed behind him.

"Let's go!" Ratchet yanked Angela by the arm, and Clank followed them (shocked from the sudden appearance of Lance). Ratchet pulled out the sawing machine he had secretly taken from Guy's side and jammed it into the wall on the right side.

"Hurry up, Ratchet…" muttered Angela as she watched the ninjas get closer. Looking back at the wall, she knew there was no hope of Ratchet being quick enough. Clank stepped forward to face Lance.

"Well, what is this?" asked Lance joyfully. He took humour in the fact that such a tiny robot was challenging him. "Check out this guy!" The other four ninjas began to laugh, and soon they couldn't stop.

Clank took this chance wisely and leaped up behind Lance, kicking his neck. Ratchet finished ripping a hole in the wall, and felt the cool breeze. He grabbed Clank and placed him on his back (on top of his backpack), then cuddled Angela and leaped out of the building with her.

* * *

><p>Corrina panted and coughed as she made it to the room she was told to go. It had a security terminal on the left side, and five escape pods on the right. She walked towards the one in the middle, and was cautious as to whether the downhill incline to the pod was safe. There were terminals at each of the pods as well, clearly to open them.<p>

"They're in here!" yelled the voice of Dyril, who Corrina hadn't noticed coming to the door. Svim and one of the men Corrina had never spoken to appeared in the doorway after Dyril's holler. As Dyril walked to a pod next to Corrina, he nodded to her. "Corrina." He kept his distance from her as she was still shaken up by Flint's demise.

Corrina nodded back, and checked out the security terminal. "Where's Scrawny?" asked the unknown man in a Scottish accent. Corrina barely listened as she opened the door through the terminal, revealing the escape pod. However, she was able to make out a conversation between Dyril and the other man about how there's another escape pod free.

Dyril, Svim and Hugo (as the conversation revealed to Corrina) all entered their pods fairly quickly, although Svim was a little clumsy and tripped. Corrina looked into the escape pod door, as a part of it was made up of a circular window. The inside was plain, with another window up the front, and nothing else, evidently built for one person. There were storage compartments in the ceiling where food for long journeys was kept.

Corrina went back to the terminal and opened the escape pod, and slid inside. She absolutely hated how the pod pointed down, but she supposed it was necessary. _Uh oh_, she realised._ How am I supposed to close the door?_ After a few moments of searching, she noticed a panel on the wall, and opened it up like toolbox.

Three buttons were inside that tiny panel. One closed and opened the protective door covering the pod, one closed and opened the escape pod entrance, and one launched the pod. Corrina closed the escape pod entrance, and was close to shutting the protective door until she heard a knock on the window.

"Hey!" said the nasal and obnoxious voice of Scrawny. He looked genuinely scared, unlike all those other times he had been beaten up in the arena. Corrina guessed he was some sort of clown who was captured to provide comedy. "Let me in, please! They're after me!"

"Isn't there another pod?" asked Corrina, yet her voice was muffled to Scrawny's ears. He made a hand sign meaning that he couldn't hear her, and fearfully she opened the pod door. "Isn't there another pod?" she repeated. Scrawny shook his head.

"Some scared guard took it to save himself!" he yelled. Corrina nodded, and grabbed his hand to slowly pull him into the pod.

"There they are!" yelled two elite guards who had appeared that the terminal. Immediately they began firing, and Corrina rapidly shut the two doors, and then launched. Corrina, still holding Scrawny, looked back to the front window and was amazed when a door let in the light coming from the glamorous Silver City.

"Hey, lady," whispered Scrawny, looking down at his leg. Corrina followed his eyes and noticed that Scrawny's leg was bleeding. There was a bullet wound inside. Thankfully, the rest of the bullets were embedded in the walls. Corrina got a rush as the escape pod ejected itself, and as they fell towards the city. "I'm scared…"

Corrina realised that Scrawny was just like a little child, and hugged him tightly, wanting to tell him that everything was going to be okay. It wasn't going to be pleasant landing.

* * *

><p>Angela felt her internal organs shift as her speed slowed incredibly. She looked up behind Ratchet, and knew that he knew what he was doing. Ratchet had jumped out of the building without any sort of parachute, and she now remembered that Clank had a Heli-pack installed.<p>

The three touched the ground awkwardly, as Ratchet was now on top of Angela, and they were both on the ground. Ratchet noticed Angela blush and quickly sat back up. Clank jumped out of Ratchet's backpack and looked up in the sky.

"You were right, Ratchet," he said. Ratchet looked up too and felt awful for not letting the citizens of Silver City know. However, they would have noticed and most of them would have made it home. As he was about to look back down, something caught his eye. Two escape pods had ejected, followed by another until five were coming down towards the city.

"Could it be…" muttered Angela, wondering where Corrina was. The fifth one was noticeably slower to eject, and was coming right towards the trio. As the pod got closer and closer, the three ducked and watched as the escape pod levelled out and slowly buried itself in the ground.

The rockets on the pod cut out and the tiny ship was completely still, with only smoke moving. The door at the back opened, and Corrina Tars crawled out with an unconscious tiny green figure in her arms, her hair in a mess. She caught sight of a hand, and looked up to see Ratchet offering to help her up.

"Thank you," she whispered, and she struggled to get up, even with Ratchet's help. Angela and Clank ran over, and Corrina was immediately confused. "Hello, what's your name?" she asked cutely, bending down to greet the tiny robot. Clank crossed his arms and looked at her angrily.

"So you're the one with the child?" asked Clank. Corrina looked back and forth between Ratchet and Angela madly.

"WHERE'S KYRA?" she screamed.

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Ratchet pleaded. "We just left her with Eric."

"THAT JERK?"

"Do you really think Eric would do anything to harm your and his child? It would be more dangerous to have her here now. So, who's your little friend?" Ratchet nodded down to Scrawny.

"Oh, someone I met. Long story. He's wounded though, so we'll need to take care of him."

"Or…" suggested Angela.

* * *

><p>Eric heard a knock on the door. He picked up Kyra in his arms, and walked to the door. He was shocked to see his ex-wife Corrina on the other side.<p>

"Switch," she said boldly, putting Scrawny in his arms and taking Kyra back.

"Corrin-" He was cut off by Corrina slamming the door in his face, leaving him to tend to Scrawny. She turned back to face Ratchet and Angela, and gave Kyra to the female Lombax.

"Well, now that's done, where's Guy?" She expected a response immediately, but for some reason the three was quiet. Angela looked like she was close to tears. "What wrong?" Then Corrina's mind clicked. "No…no, no, no, no!" Ratchet grimly nodded.

"NOT ANOTHER ONE!" squealed Corrina, bursting into a flood of tears. She turned and began to run off.

"Corrina, wait!" Ratchet yelled, and he followed her, leaving Angela alone. She walked back to Eric's door and knocked.

Ratchet ran into an alleyway, where Corrina was sprinting. He was already panting, and he realised that he was very unfit. Although Champio had sent more guards, the power supply was still active. Corrina ran straight past two guards, and just as they were about to fire at her, they were deactivated by an electric pistol.

Corrina ran right into a building, and immediately Ratchet knew that Corrina had somewhere she wanted to be. Ratchet followed her in, but lost sight of her. However, he noticed the elevator was going up, and thought that he could make it running up the stairs.

As Ratchet ran up, he found that the building was very similar to Angela's apartment building, and realised that it probably was another, where Corrina probably lived. As he approached the fourth floor, he heard a "ding", and just caught sight of Corrina running by with her face in her hands.

The male Lombax made it to the top of the staircase, and looked down the hallway. Corrina had stopped close to him, and was unlocking a door with her key. With tears streaming down her face, she entered the doorway. Ratchet followed her, but only stopped outside the door and peeked inside.

Corrina wasn't in sight, but Ratchet could hear the tap running, and supposed that she was washing her eyes. Ratchet stepped into the apartment as Corrina came out of a room from the left side, stopping when she saw him.

"Oh…Ratchet," she waned. "I…I can't believe you followed me all the way here." Ratchet watched as she walked past and walked into a room on the right, sitting on the bed that was inside. Ratchet could still see her, as the bed was adjacent to the doorway.

The living room of the apartment wasn't too fancy. There was only a lounge perpendicular to a giant window, and the lounge faced the Holo-vision. The only other thing in the room was the drawer with make-up and jewellery spread over the top. Ratchet strode into the bedroom and sat down next to the sad Markazian.

"You know if you just sit here and grieve while we still have something to do, you along with many other citizens of Silver City will be killed," Ratchet stated. Corrina shook her head.

"I just can't stop crying! Guy's dead, Luci's dead, Flint's dead, Baws' dead, Mandy's dead! AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF ME!" Corrina wailed.

"Wait, who are those other people?" asked Ratchet.

"They were all people I met while I was captured and they all died! It's a long story, though!"

"We have time," Ratchet answered, but he noticed that Corrina wouldn't stop crying. "Do you have any alcohol? It will make you forget about everything." Corrina nodded and pointed out into the living room. Confused, Ratchet walked out and for the first time noticed another doorway parallel to the bathroom, hidden by the drawer.

He walked in and was met with an L-shaped bench, with microwaves and sinks placed on it. There was also a single table sitting in the middle of the room, and door was on the left side, connecting to the bathroom.

Ratchet looked through the cupboards and quickly found two bottles of an expensive wine. "How much did these cost?"

Corrina sniffled. "95 bolts each." Ratchet smiled, and unbeknownst to Corrina, he accessed his Holo-bank account through his belt and took 190 bolts out. He grabbed the bag that spawned out of his belt, and placed it inside the cupboard.

"Got them!" Ratchet hollered, walking back into the bedroom with the bottles and two glasses. He placed them on the bedside desk and poured Corrina a glass.

"Thanks," she said as he offered her the glass, and she downed the alcohol in one drink. Ratchet chuckled.

"Want some more?" Corrina held the glass out and Ratchet poured some more wine in, before pouring himself a glass. "So, are you feeling better?" He sat back down next to her.

"Yeah, much. Don't remind me what I was crying about, I forgot. All I can think about now is…" She looked down at Ratchet's torso. "Your chest." She gave a puzzled expression and drank some more wine.

"You know why it's called wine?" asked Ratchet, ignoring Corrina's confusing thoughts. Corrina shook her head. "Because the guy who made it invented it to stop his wife from whining!" Corrina burst out in a drunken laugh.

Corrina's laugh, however, turned into a cry as she remembered the deaths of so many people. "It's my fault!" She rested her head in Ratchet's arms, and he wrapped them around her.

"Have some more wine," he said, bringing her glass up to her mouth. She took a sip.

"You're so kind, Ratchet. And I really like you because of that. I love you." She leaned in towards his lips, and he positioned them to meet hers. The kiss lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but neither grew tired of it. Only when Ratchet had something to say to her did he let go.

"Promise me you'll stay with us, just until we've freed everyone," said Ratchet quietly. "Or this won't be able to work." Corrina nodded.

"I'll try." The two stood up, looking into each other's eyes. "Where's Kyra?"

"You gave her to Angela, remember? Come on, she'll be waiting for us." The two left the apartment, holding hands.


	13. I Surrender

Chapter 13: I Surrender

Angela walked a distance away from Ratchet and Corrina, their hands intertwined, as she was jealous about being alone. Ratchet and Corrina wanted to have a little bit of privacy, but were too kind to say. However, Angela understood, and so while the two walked on the main road, Angela walked on the grass beside it, parallel to the lovers. Clank was missing, but neither Ratchet nor Corrina noticed.

"So, what should we be doing now?" Angela asked, but none of them heard her. They were too busy talking among themselves, laughing cheekily at their jokes. "GUYS! HELP! I'M BEING ATTACKED!" The two darted their eyes over to Angela, who looked at them unimpressed.

"Thank you," she mouthed. "What are we supposed to do now? Should we try and deactivate the field again?" Corrina looked at her strangely, suspecting that she was jealous, while Ratchet answered the question.

"We know that Lance and his team will be protecting the lever, so we need to come up with an attack plan." Angela nodded, and noticed a patch of dirt on the grass parallel to the lawn that she was standing on. She motioned for the two to come over to the patch, and she kneeled down in front of it.

"So this is the room with the lever inside." She drew a rectangle representing it in the dirt. "And this is Lance and his ninja crew. And this is us. So what should we do?" Corrina decided to step in with her idea.

"The main advantage of Lance's training is speed and agility," Corrina stated. "Why don't we use Ratchet's voltage gun? It won't deactivate them, but it covers the whole room, so they'll have nowhere to run. And it will slow them down, allowing us to use directed attacks on him."

"I agree," said Angela. "We can't use directed attacks on Lance because he avoids them. However, if we use an attack that covers the whole room, he'll have nowhere to run. And Ratchet's gun is perfect for that." She drew a bunch of zigzagging lines coming from Ratchet.

"How should we finish them off?" asked Corrina, her arms crossed. There was awkward silence for a few moments, until Angela got an idea.

"How about Corrina and I seduce them and distract them while Ratchet sneaks around and pulls the lever. Once we have the lever pulled, we can do whatever we want with the ninjas. But, Ratchet, remember to keep focused on getting past the ninjas, not us." Corrina struggled to hold in a laugh, and Ratchet looked unamused.

"So, shall we set off?" asked Angela. The trio nodded and walked back onto the main road. Ratchet and Corrina were now much closer to Angela, mainly due to the fact the Markazian wanted to talk to her.

"Are you jealous about me and Ratchet?" she asked kindly.

"Well, I'm a little jealous that I'm all alone because of the relationship between you two, but I'm happy for you," the female Lombax answered. "I don't want to take Ratchet from you."

"Do you have a crush on him?" Corrina whispered back.

"A little, but nothing serious," Angela answered immediately. Ratchet stopped, interrupting them.

"Guards ahead," he stated, taking out Guy's saw gun. "Angela, take this and give Corrina her gun back." Angela passed Corrina the guard's gun and caught the sawing pistol. The three pointed their weapons straight ahead as energy balls came towards them. However, the guards had terrible aim and the blue discs just floated past them.

"This phrase cannot be said in this timeslot," Corrina stated as she let rip. Five energy balls streamed out destroying the three silver guards, leaving one to crash and the other to ride out into the distance.

"You're a bloody good shot," Ratchet announced in a British accent. Corrina smiled over to him, and giggled a little, leaving Angela a bit unhappy.

"How are going to get through the gravity maze again?" Angela realised.

"Well, we know where the exit is now, so now we use the saw gun to cut through the walls," Ratchet said, unaware that Angela deliberately changed the subject of conversation. "Much easier and won't take as long." Corrina heard a rustle from behind, and darted her head around.

She was sure that she saw a black blur go across the road, but just assumed it was her mind play tricks on her. She turned back forward but shortly heard another rustle. However, this time she saw a blue blur, slower than the black one. _Could that have been…Luci? No, it's my mind again. Argh, I got to look._

Angela and Ratchet stopped as Corrina ran back and looked around the corner of a building. There was nothing except a few pieces of rubbish. She sighed and walked back to the group, disappointed. "Just my mind playing tricks on me."

"What did you think you saw?" asked Ratchet.

"Luci. But she's…" Corrina shuddered, and Ratchet quickly hugged her to take her mind off her death. "Are we there yet?" She tried to block those bad memories out of her head by asking that question.

"No, but if we go down an alleyway that's coming up and walked out into the main road, then yes," Angela said, looking at the map she kept at the top of her open backpack. As she stuffed it back in, it ripped and Ratchet heard her curse like she did on Yeedil half a year ago.

"Let's go, then!" exclaimed Corrina.

* * *

><p>Ratchet, Angela and Corrina crouched near the door that led to the room with the lever after a long journey through the gravity maze that took all day. By the time they reached the building, it was lunchtime, and even with the saw gun it took until around 6pm.<p>

As they were on the long repetitive journey, Ratchet realised something. "Hey, where's Clank?"

"I thought you'd never ask," replied Angela. "While you and Corrina were getting acquainted-" Angela tripped suddenly, and she ferociously stood back up. "As I was saying, the MEHT called Clank, and because it was urgent, he told me to say goodbye to you. I decided to wait until you noticed he was gone, but obviously it took longer than I expected."

"How did he get off the planet?" asked Ratchet.

"It turns out Champio would never mess with the MEHT, and obviously didn't realise that Clank was helping us. So, he sent a pair of guards to come pick him up."

"What he captured Clank instead of returning him?"

"Then that would mean the MEHT would be owning Champio right now." Corrina giggled at Angela's comment. "Megacorp has no interest in politics and it in a mutual agreement with all parties. But if one party does something they don't like that affects them, they step in and put them back in line like a schoolteacher."

Now they were on the gravity ramp, even though the gravity maze did not affect them. Thankfully the normal gravity was pulling them downwards instead of any other way. "Should we go now?" It was Ratchet who spoke. The two girls nodded and they all stood up simultaneously, walking calmly into the room.

"So, the three heroes are back," Lance said. His back was facing them as he was talking to his four minions and when he turned, he was surprised to see that the tiny metallic robot had transformed into a beautiful Markazian woman. "Who is this beauty?"

"She's my girlfriend," growled Ratchet, putting his arm on Corrina's shoulder.

"A rose by any other name is just as sweet," Lance spoke smoothly and poetically. "Isn't he a bit short for you?" Ratchet's face turned red and he quickly drawed the electric gun. Lance snapped his fingers and in a split second the five ninjas were spread across the room.

At the same time Ratchet fired the voltage gun, the five pulled out strange oval, window-shaped shields, making it split into four quarters. They pressed a button and a light blue energy spread across the gaps in the metal cross perpendicular to the oval, making the frame.

The electricity reached the shields, and deflected off the forcefield, shocking the three heroes (no pun intended). "You had the audacity to not wipe out your plan from the dirt, so I sent one of my men to check it out," announced Lance. "I knew you were going use an undirected attack on us to slow us down so you could use directed attacks. Ambitious, but rubbish."

"I thought I saw a blur behind me!" Corrina yelled, and she along with Ratchet charged towards them. Angela shut her eyes and heard two whacks. When she opened them back up, Ratchet and Corrina were beside her with a bruise each.

"Will you be as foolish as your friends?" asked Lance. Angela didn't answer. The room remained silent for a few moments, while Angela contemplated her options. As Ratchet began to stand up, Angela finally decided on what she was going to do.

"I surrender." Corrina's jaw dropped in shock. "I surrender," Angela repeated.

"Angela, what are you doing?" yelled Ratchet. He got up and ran towards his Lombax companion, but she kicked him away.

"Smart little girl," said Lance, and he signalled for two of his ninja men to stand beside her, taking each of her arms.

"However, I do not wish to be taken prisoner," Angela said. "I wish to join Champio's party. He said to me himself that I'd be a great speechwriter, so I wish to apply for the job."

"Champio already has a speechwriter," Lance said, crossing his arms.

"But he is so busy with the lockdown it would be less of a trouble to have another," Angela retorted, sneering at the martial arts master.

"We'll have to leave it up to Champio to decide," Lance growled.

"And one more thing," Angela said sweetly. "Let these two losers go, just for now." She pointed her thumb to the weak couple who were staring in rage.

"I suppose," said Lance, gritting his teeth. "But they ain't deactivating the field." He snapped his fingers, and the remaining two ninjas grabbed Ratchet and Corrina. Another snap and the ninjas were suddenly by the hole in the wall from earlier.

"Attach some parachutes," ordered Lance calmly. He snapped again and spontaneously parachutes appeared on Ratchet and Corrina's back. One more snap and Ratchet and Corrina were thrown out of the building. "Now…just in case they come back."

Lance walked over to the lever, and fiddled around, his body blocking Angela's view. "There, now it's deadlocked." He stood up and pulled his arm up to his mouth. "This is Speed Band 3. We have captured an escaper, and we are requesting to be picked up by Mothership at the top of the Gravitron Building."

Lance was speaking into a transceiver on his wrist. After getting a muffled "all clear" back, he turned to face Angela. "Time to go." He walked to the empty wall on the left, and picked up a rectangular sheet of wood the exact same colour as the wall. It was completely camouflaged in any other view, and he shifted it aside to reveal a steep staircase.

"Follow," Lance ordered. The two ninjas holding Angela placed a pair of handcuffs on her wrists and behind her back, and pushed her towards the staircase.

* * *

><p>Corrina landed, with Ratchet shortly behind her, on the piece of concrete that she had remembered landing on when she escaped Champio's ship. The parachute they launched while they fell was black with some sort of logo on it that Corrina couldn't make out.<p>

She dropped the parachute off and placed her backpack back on, which the guards had taken off. It was now night-time, and although there were no people about, lights still ignited the darkness. Ratchet placed a hand on Corrina's shoulder as she sat down.

"I can't believe Angela would betray us like that!" exclaimed Corrina in anger. She then realised that Kyra was no longer in her arms. "Kyra! Where's Kyra?"

"Woah, calm down!" said Ratchet, putting his arm around Corrina's shoulder. "You gave her to Angela, remember? She may have betrayed us, but she would harm your child. Remember she said that she didn't want us to be captured. I hate her for doing that, but it may just be part of a plan."

"But I can't stand to be without Kyra!" she yelled. Ratchet heard footsteps and stood up. He pointed his gun into the shadows where the noise was coming from. One of the ninjas on Lance's team, a redhead, stepped out into the light…with Kyra in his arms.

"Miss Cross want you two to have this, and also Lance doesn't like children so he wanted to get this thing as far from him as possible." As Ratchet took Kyra into his hands, Corrina stood up and tried to slap the redhead for calling her child "a thing". Yet, as her hand moved across, the ninja disappeared within a blink of the eye.

Kyra was awake, but was just staring blankly, smiling and giggling when she felt Ratchet's ticklish fur. "I'm glad they gave her back to us," Corrina said. "With all this adventure stuff, I keep forgetting about Kyra. I'm a horrible mother."

"No, you're not," said Ratchet sweetly. "Maybe it would be better after all to have Eric take care of Kyra while we free the citizens of Silver City." Corrina nodded.

"Maybe we should," she admitted. "As much as I hate his guts, you're right. He cares about Kyra. Let's go." Ratchet made an agreeing sound and the two began to walk southwest to Eric's house. As they walked in the dark, Corrina heard a scuttling sound behind her.

She looked back and saw a tiny black and lime Worm-droid rolling towards her frantically. "Hey, Wormy! I haven't seen you in ages!" Wormy stopped in front of Corrina and made some panicky noises, pointing his head to the east as if he wanted them to go that way.

"Hold on, Wormy! We need to drop Kyra off at Eric's. You can show us what you want later." Wormy made a noise, as if he was disappointed, and followed them as they started walking again.

* * *

><p>In no time, the group reached Eric's house, which was a flat prism, wider than its height. Reluctantly, Corrina knocked on the door three times, and waited until Eric finally answered the door. "Corrina! Come in, unless you want to slam the door in my face like last time."<p>

Ratchet, Corrina and Wormy stepped into the doorway, and Eric shut the door behind them. "Sorry about that," Corrina muttered. "Umm, we've decided that we want Kyra to stay with you. It's too dangerous. Anyway, how's Scrawny?"

"He doing fine," Eric said, taking Kyra in his arms. "He's in the back bedroom." Corrina nodded and walked off, leaving Ratchet alone with him. "Where's Angela?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Ratchet, startled. "Angela…she…"

"Oh my god, not her as well!" yelled Eric.

"No, no, no! She just…betrayed us to Champio."

"Just? But she's your girlfriend!"

"WHAT?" boomed Ratchet.

"Oh, I just thought…because you were both of the same species."

"It's okay," Ratchet panted. "It's funny because I'm already in a relationship."

"With who?" Ratchet made an expression that told Eric that he wasn't comfortable with telling him. "Oh…I see. I knew she'd move on from me. Have you…"

"No," muttered Ratchet. Eric looked down and saw Wormy.

"Who's this little fella?" he asked, bending down to get a closer look at the shy Worm-droid.

"Oh, he's Angela's."

"Of course!" Eric exclaimed. "I forgot that Angela had a Worm-droid with her whenever she came to have a chat! Umm, do you and Corrina want to stay here tonight? I've got plenty of room!"

"You'll have to ask Corrina about that one," said Ratchet. Corrina, however, was in the back bedroom she was familiar with when she lived at Eric's, sitting at Scrawny's bedside, who had a bandage on his leg and head.

"Hey, Scrawny," greeted Corrina. The tiny green man's eyes opened, and he looked over at the Markazian slowly.

"Thanks for saving me, lady," Scrawny rasped. "If it hadn't been for you, my life would have ended on that ship."

"Hey, we're both innocent prisoners," Corrina answered. "What happened to your head?"

"Trauma."

"And how's your leg feeling?"

"Okay."

"Corrina," said Ratchet in the doorway. Corrina looked over into the light, as the room was dark, and saw the Lombax standing. "Eric wants to know if we're staying the night."

"I suppose," said Corrina, standing up. At that moment, Wormy scuttled into the room making robotic noises frantically. "But Wormy wants to show us something first."

"What do you want, Wormy?" asked Corrina as they were being led through the darkness by the Worm-droid. Ratchet held a flashlight in front of him, trying to spy anything suspicious. Ratchet suddenly stopped, as Wormy had stopped as well.

"It's a…shrine," Ratchet muttered, shining his light over directly on an ancient gate, red and shaped like the symbol of pi. Behind it was a tiny shack with its front wall open, containing a well and offerings inside. The shack was stronger than it looked, because a huge marble statue of a heavily modified Worm-droid sat on top of it.

"I've heard people have come to this place," Corrina said. "Worshipping the First Worm-droid. Supposedly the creator of Boldan, originally rising from the sea. Maybe there's some external force that could deactivate the shield."

"Or Wormy just wanted to pray for his god," Ratchet said sceptically. Wormy made an unappreciative noise and moved up to the well, motioning for them to jump in. "He wants us to get in that?"

"Kyra, stop!" yelled a familiar voice before Corrina could answer. The multi-special couple spun around and saw Kyra crawling towards them, with Eric shortly behind her.

"Aww, Kyra wants to come back to her mummy!" Corrina said, and bent down. She waited for Kyra to come into her arms, but was shocked when the auburn haired child crawled straight past her.

"I don't know what's wrong!" exclaimed Eric, stopping at the two. "Ever since she came into my arms, she's wanted to go outside!"

"To the same place Wormy wanted to go to," muttered Corrina, following Kyra with her eyes. Her heart began to race when she crawled into the shack and began to climb up onto the well. "KYRA, WAIT!" Her heart skipped a beat as she sprinted through the gate and towards the shack.

Kyra was already on the edge of the well, and dropped in. In an amazing feat of flexibility, Corrina jumped over the well and scooped Kyra in her arms as she dropped. However, she was left in the air and plummeted straight down into the well.

"See ya," Ratchet said quickly to Eric as he sprinted towards the well, and followed Wormy inside.


	14. Brutality

_Chapter 14: Brutality_

The only sound made was the clock ticking as Angela sat across the desk from the political leader Champio, who looked at her happy. Angela sat impatiently with her legs crossed as Champio tapped away at his laptop, making notes without saying a word.

Finally he spoke. "So, I have arranged my party so you will become a speechwriter, but it won't only be for me. However, I have a big speech to give at the Chamber of Dignitaries, and I want to give you the opportunity to write the speech for me. Basically, I'll give you an hour to write a speech assuring the Chamber that the lockdown is perfectly fine, and all measures are being taken to ensure that the people are safe from the radiation."

"So, when shall I start?" asked Angela.

"You will have your own office, with a map of this ship inside. You will be limited on where you can go, but that's really only the prisoner confinement and my rooms you'll be excluded from. The speech starts tomorrow morning at 6am, but you'll have to give it to me by 11:30pm, so I can ensure you haven't put anything that I don't like in it, and if you have I'll have time to change it."

"Agreed," Angela said. Champio his hand out.

"Welcome to the party."

* * *

><p>It was getting close to 11:20pm when Angela finished typing up the "goodie-two-shoes" speech that was really full of lies. She was sitting in a small room with teal walls at a single brown desk. The room was pretty much bare, with a few paintings hung up, and some assorted items in the desk drawers.<p>

It became obvious that someone had moved out of this office recently. Champio had kindly supplied coffee to Angela because he noticed she was tired. Angela realised that he was nicer than she thought when it came to close people, and she had a growing suspicion that Champio liked her.

The Lombax sipped her coffee as she sent the 10-page-long script from her laptop (which was supplied to her) to the main printer in the break room. It was taking a while for the speech to be sent, but the boredom was broken by a knock on the door.

"Come in!" exclaimed Angela. The brown door opened and Champio poked his head in.

"How's the speech coming along?" he asked, opening the door fully.

"I'm sending it to the printer right now," Angela said, and Champio smiled.

"Alright. When you've got it, staple it together and send it over to my office. I'm sure you know where it is." Angela looked slightly to the right of Champio over to the map that was posted there. "If anyone stops you in front of my door, just tell them that you want to give this speech to me, and they'll understand."

"Okay, thanks." Champio left in a jiffy, feeling as though something wasn't right with Angela. She was much quieter than when they last met. Angela stood up and walked through the open doorway, closing the door behind her as she went.

She remembered passing the main break room on her way to her office, and knew that it wasn't too far away from it. Angela walked left and passed three doors on the right in the empty hallway, and knew that the fourth one (that didn't have a door) was the break room.

Angela walked inside and immediately saw the printer across from her, printing out the first of her sheets. In the corners of her eyes, she noticed about three other people inside the room, but didn't care and strode towards the printer. As she reached out her arm to grab the top sheet, the back of a human body blocked her.

"Alright, so who's printing this out?" The voice was strangely familiar, and Angela's heart skipped a beat. The lady looked at the sheets, and began to turn around as she read them, revealing everything to Angela.

"Doris?" The human woman with wiry spectacles looked up, and smiled at the sight of the Lombax.

"Angela! I didn't know you worked for Champio!" Doris had the same blue tanktop and white silk shorts as when they met during their daily jogging the night of the lockdown.

"I didn't know you worked for Champio either!" exclaimed Angela, a little unimpressed.

"Hey, hey, cool it!" Doris said in her strange accent. "I'm trying to defeat Champio from inside."

"That's what I'm trying to do!"

"Yeah, but what happened? At first, you were on the news fighting Champio, but now you're on his side!"

"I was thinking about going inside, and I tried being connected to a wire while being recruited, but he revealed no secrets, so I have a different plan." The sheets of Angela's speech finished printing. "But, enough about me. How did you become part of this?"

"I suppose you should have this back." Doris gave the sheets of the speech she had taken over to Angela, and the Lombax began to sort them back in order. "Well, when the power was restored, I decided to go for a jog, but I was discovered by two of those stray guards, and so I surrendered."

"But Champio took a liking to me, and found out that I was great at speechwriting. I've always said that we were great at speeches. Yeah, and so he employed me as his speechwriter. I was worried when he said he found another one, but I'm relieved it's you!"

"Typical that he took a liking to you," Angela replied. "I think he's just a womaniser."

"Dog," giggled Doris. "Anyway, I was just coming here to talk with someone about arrangements for another politician's speech. But now that's done, I'll be going to bed. Ta-ta." Doris walked out of the break room and disappeared.

Angela chuckled for a bit, and grabbed a stapler from a desk nearby, and joined the ten papers. Leaving the break room, she walked the opposite way she came in, down through a series of corridors until she reached Champio's office.

As she walked towards the door, she noticed two men carrying a sofa past her. She turned back to the door and was prepared to knock it when a short man in a tuxedo and spectacles blocked her. "Do you have any business with Lord Champio?"

"Lord?" asked Angela judgementally, but she then realised that wasn't a good idea. "Oh, I'm the new speechwriter. I have a speech to give to Champio."

"LORD Champio," corrected the short man. "And if that is all, you may pass." The short man wandered off, but Angela didn't bother to notice. She knocked on the door, and waited patiently until the door opened.

"Ahh, Angela," said Champio as the door opened fully. "Do you have your speech ready?" Angela nodded and handed him the sheets of paper. He looked through it quickly as he sat down at his desk. "This is good. Excellent work, Angela. I especially love the line 'Though it may seem like a tough time for the people of Silver City, they would be dying of radiation if it weren't for the lockdown'."

"Thank you," Angela answered. She watched keenly as Champio opened one of his drawers and placed the speech inside.

"I would be glad if you could be there in the audience when I give this speech," Champio said calmly. "This may be the key to overthrowing Gohol. But first, you must get some shuteye."

"About that…" Angela began.

"You're wondering where to sleep, aren't you? Not to worry, right now my men are moving a sofa into your office. But it isn't just a sofa, it's a sofa bed. I hope you'll be bright and bubbly in the morning."

"Thank you," said Angela, and she turned to go back through the door.

"Oh, and Angela." The Lombax turned around. "Welcome to the party." Angela smiled and closed the door behind her. When she came back to the office, she found that the sofa had indeed been moved inside. It was facing the desk, but when she pulled out the bed it didn't collide with it.

Yawning, Angela sat back in her office chair. Although she had been told to get some sleep, she had one more thing to do. Scowling, she began to type a second speech, one far more unpleasant than the one she had given Champio.

* * *

><p>Morning rose, yet it was still dark inside the tunnel where Ratchet, Corrina and Kyra were currently sleeping. After leaping into the well, they found a narrow tunnel connected to it, leading to somewhere. However, since there was no way up, the group spent the night inside the tunnel, resting their tired bones.<p>

Ratchet and Corrina unpleasantly stirred from their sleep as Kyra began to cry. Corrina began to pull down the sleeve of her tanktop, waking Ratchet up suddenly. "Could you please look away from this?" Ratchet realised that Corrina was going to breastfeed Kyra.

"I don't mind watching," Ratchet joked. Corrina looked over at Ratchet and gave him a playful slap. Ratchet laughed, and gave in to Corrina's demands. While Kyra stopped crying was being feed, Wormy began to try and communicate was Ratchet.

The Worm-droid made a few noises, and showed Ratchet a projection of an island, with a single hot spring on it. "Is that where we're going?" Wormy made a few affirmative noises.

"Okay, I've finished," stated Corrina, and Ratchet turned around, forgetting all about the island.

"Great. Shall we continue?" Corrina nodded and looked down the two paths they could journey down. However, they looked the same, so they had no way to know which way they came from. "Ummm, yeah…"

"Don't worry," said Ratchet, pointing to a red mark on the wall behind him. "Last night while you were sleeping, I borrowed your lipstick and made a mark that told me that whatever path we go down, the mark has to be on the left." He shuffled around until he was facing down one of the corridors, the wall with the mark on his left.

"Okay, I…kinda…see," answered Corrina. "Let's just go already!" The Lombax grinned at her, and began to walk into the mysterious darkness.

* * *

><p>"Wakey, wakey," spoke a soft voice. Angela Cross opened her eyes and was immediately faced with Champio, looking at down at her. "It's almost time for my speech, and I came to see if you had waked up."<p>

"Guhhh…" she waned back as she was not good when it came to waking up. Champio chuckled quietly.

"Okay, the speech will be starting in about fifteen minutes. I'll go get my coffee, and then collect my speech from my desk. By the way, I had a read through it and I was VERY impressed. I'm going to have to keep my eye on you."

Angela sat up on the sofa bed in her office as the candidate for Galactic President left. She thought about the words he had spoken, and suddenly remembered. She needed to switch Champio's approved speech with one that could ruin him before he finished getting his coffee.

Angela shot up and frantically looked around, pounding her brain to remember where she had hidden the speech. _I've got to calm down, calm down. Okay, just stay calm. Okay. Deep breath. Where did I put the speech? I printed it out last night, and discreetly took it back with me…and I put it under the sofa bed!_

She pushed the sofa mattress back into the couch and found her unapproved speech lying safely underneath. It was an exact copy of the approved one, except for the fact that it had a much more extreme text. As Angela yanked it, the paper made a fluttering noise, and did the same as she bolted out of the room.

For the first half, she ran as fast as she could, but then realised that it would be too suspicious, and slowed her pace. She nonchalantly walked to the door of Champio's office, and slid through the doorway like a snake.

"Oh, sorry," Angela stammered. Champio was staring at her suspiciously. He was seated in his office, drinking his steaming brown coffee. "I must have walked into the wrong door." Champio raised his eyebrow, gazing at the bunch of paper she badly hid behind her back.

"My door has my name on it." Angela slowly turned her head towards the door.

"Champio's Office," she read out. "Oh…well…I-I-I can…ex-explain."

"Still sleepy?"

"YEAH! That's it. I need some coffee."

"Well, riddle me this…Angela," Champio said, his tone getting more fierce. "If this was the wrong door, then who were you actually seeing with that bulk of paper?"

"Oh, I was seeing Doris," Angela quickly lied. "You know Doris? She was a friend of mine back on Silver City, and I printed out an extra copy of your speech to show her. To compare our speechwriting."

"Right…" A few sweat drops began to appear on Angela's face. "You may go, then." Angela nodded and quickly ducked out, collapsing in a relieved heap beside the door._ That was so close…what am I going to do now? Champio has the good speech, and he's going to present it any minute now._

* * *

><p>The candidate for Galactic President, Champio, left his office, locking the door behind him. He gazed around instinctively, assuring himself that the Lombax he had hired was not watching. The corridors were a dull light blue, pathetically decorated with potted plants. Convinced that Angela Cross was no where near, he began to stride.<p>

Looking behind his back every few seconds, the muscular man walked down the corridor, knowing where he needed to go. Eventually his wandering eyes fell upon the speech he had in his hands, and his mouth curved snidely.

"Ahh, Chalmers." Champio had noticed the short, bespectacled man in a neat suit, and called out his name. The buck-toothed rat turned to Champio's call, and smiled grievously. "Can you take this for a moment? I need to a coffee, I'm stressing a bit." Champio quickly looked around the empty corridor.

"Certainly," the shrinked voice answered, collecting the speech. "I will guard it with my life." Champio smiled and briskly walked off, rolling his eyes as he went. As soon as the leader disappeared, Chalmers noticed a female Lombax approaching him, wearing a leather jacket.

"Excuse me," she said. "Can I take a look at that speech? I wrote it, you see, and I'm afraid I might have forgotten to add a crucial sentence." Chalmers eyed her off viciously, and then decided that she could do no harm. He placed the speech in her furry hands, but kept watch of her.

"Thank you," Angela stated, twisting around so that her body, and the speech, were hidden by the brown coat. Discreetly, she pulled her fake speech out of her inside pocket and replaced it with the real one. "Okay, I didn't forget." She spun around and quickly handed the tiny tuxedo man her speech.

"All right, I'm glad you didn't try anything otherwise Lord Champio would be very cross." Angela briskly walked off, weirded out by the "teacher's pet". "Why do people always do that?" Chalmers asked himself. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Champio watched through the keyhole of a door, laughing as Angela walked off…with a blank pile of papers. After the Lombax had disappeared, he opened the door and went back to meet with Chalmers. "Thanks for holding that for me."

"No problem, but didn't you say you were getting a coffee?" the man squeaked. Champio snatched the fake speech away.

"Coffee machine was broken. Mum's the word, gotta go!" Chalmers was left dumbfounded as Champio ran off. As soon as the tall figure had made it around the corner, he slowed his pace, and dropped Angela's fake speech in a nearby trash can, feeling the good speech under his armour.

A Lombax in a brown leather jacket emerged from the shadows after Champio had gone, and began to scramble through the trash can. It was easy to find the speech, although a bit of discarded relish had made its way onto it. The speech was starting in two minutes, and Champio was still in possession of his winning speech.

"One step ahead of each other," she declared, and she left the corridor mysteriously.

* * *

><p>Doris sat down next to Angela in one of the high spectator seats in the Circle of Politicians. They had been teleported to this place on Endako from Champio's ship. One giant circular dome, with the extra important politicians seated on the ground, and the others in chairs around that could float into the middle of the Circle when called upon. The two friends were on one of three spectator levels, nearest to the ceiling. Since they were so high, they had viewscreens all around, showing the view on the bottom level from floating cameras.<p>

At the moment, many politicians were floating around the room in their chairs, passing confidential notes to their colleagues. At any time now, the Speaker would step up to his throne, the biggest chair in the building, and announce that beginning of the meeting. It was now that Angela began her plan.

"Excuse me, I'm going to go to the bathroom. Don't worry if I miss the start of the speech." Doris silently nodded, and Angela disappeared from the chamber, not surprisingly as there were over a thousand people in there currently. There was applause as Champio entered the Circle and sat down proudly in his luxurious seat, however nobody seemed to notice Gohol enter.

Gohol was an average height man, his body covered mostly with a furry, beige cloak. His plump stomach was still exposed, however, and his long extremely light green hair blended with the robe. He had a stern expression on his face, probably because of the Champio clause.

"ORDER!" bellowed the Speaker, an extremely fat man who could barely walk. The floating politicians scattered frantically and the chatter stopped immediately, telling Angela that many of the politicians were fearing the Speaker. His grey curls and thick glasses followed him as he collapsed inside the throne, panting momentarily.

"Alright, then," he announced. "This meeting may be the deciding point of the future of Bogon. Of who will become the next Galactic President. Will Gohol kept his presidency, or will the young and vibrant Champio snatch it away? Let this meeting begin."

* * *

><p>A single manhole cover slid open, and a Lombax crawled out, followed by his Markazian girlfriend. Corrina struggled climbing out of the sewer with Kyra in her arms, but Ratchet helped her and was rewarded with a quick kiss. Wormy rolled up the side of the ladder leading out onto the surface, and was the last to make it out.<p>

Ratchet heard the waves of the ocean, coloured orange by the sky, and realised that they were indeed on an island. However, Silver City wasn't too far away, and the apartment building was clear in sight. "Just like in the projection…" muttered Ratchet, however he noticed that there was no hot spring.

Wormy made a few noises, and started to roll away, slowed down by the friction of the sand. Ratchet expected the island to be tiny, but in fact, it was so big and so full of trees that the other side was hidden. "Maybe it's on the other side."

Corrina noticed Wormy wandering once again, and found that Kyra was reached her arms out towards him, as if she was trying to follow him. The Markazian put her child down, and they watched as she crawled behind Wormy, following his every move.

"Ah well, time to follow the Yellow Brick Road."

"That makes no sense," Corrina replied.

"I know, can we just go?"


	15. Missing Link

_Chapter 15: Missing Link_

Champio stood at the lectern in the centre of the Circle of Politicians, placing the "goody-two-shoes" speech on it. As soon as the Speaker called his name the chamber went into disarray, giving Angela a chance. Champio was still in his armour, although he had a tie which laughably hung from it.

A single yellow orb was thrown from the darkness, stopping in front of the lectern. Amongst the chaos, only Champio noticed it, and was thrown back as an explosion of smoke filled the bottom area of the Circle. "ORDER! ORDER!" bellowed the Speaker as everyone noticed the smoke bomb and began to scramble.

Hidden in between the paranoia and panic, a single furry Lombax hand rose behind the lectern, unbeknownst to Champio who was now speaking to Chalmers. The speech swiftly disappeared, and another one replaced it. Angela tucked it under her jacket and crawled out from under the lectern, heading back to her seat as the chaos began to fade.

Chalmers slinked back to his seat as Champio stood back up on the lectern, and now that the smoke had dissipated, everyone was eagerly waiting for Champio to begin. The yellow bomb got carried away by a bomb squad to forensics as Champio began.

"I'd like to begin this speech on the fact that I…" He looked down at the first line of the speech. "Planted the Boldan bomb myself?" The audience gasped.

"Order!" the Speaker announced. "Explain this ordeal, Champio."

"No, no…my speechwriter is playing a prank on me..." Champio pleaded, and the members of Champio's party on the ground level all nodded vigorously. "Very funny…Angela Cross!" Doris looked to the seat next to her, and saw that it was empty. She smiled, knowing that Angela was one step ahead of them all.

"Order!" the Speaker bellowed again as chatter started. "Lord Champio, as your speech has been sabotaged, I would like to confiscate it. Who knows, it may open up a few things to us." A sweat appeared on Champio's brow, but he gave in.

"As you wish, Mr. Speaker." The heavy footsteps echoed through the Circle of Politicians as the speech was passed to the throne. The Speaker observed the text on the pieces of paper, and was impressed by what he was saying.

"It seems your speechwriter is smarter than you think. The story given here could make complete sense with the proper insight and interrogation. Would the Circle like to hear what this Angela Cross is claiming?" A roar of agreements flooded the chamber, and the Speaker had to bang his gavel once more.

"Order!" The audience resumed their silence. "Miss Cross is insinuating that the Leader of the Opposition had planted a bomb on Boldan himself, to lie to the people that the radiation would kill them. All this to make the citizens of Bogon follow Champio after he resolved these issues so easily, when really he created them himself. To be a saviour in the time of darkness."

"She also claims that the radiation was a hoax, and the lockdown was not needed. She believes your motives were because of Sir Gohol, who threatened for you to never take his position when you were a child. What do you have to say for yourself, Gohol?"

"A pure accident on the child's behalf!" rang out the soft but stern voice of Gohol, his expression lightening from recent events. "I do remember this incident. I said what I said as a pure joke in a light tone, but my stature in comparison must have warped the truth." Champio looked down in defeat.

"And to you, Lord Champio, what do you have to say for yourself?" Champio looked back up and to the left so he was gazing at the Speaker.

"You think this is true? It's a fairytale, created by the imagination of my speechwriter, Angela Cross!"

"But there seems to be nothing in this information that doesn't make sense. You do have a history of not being truthful, after all." Champio stared at him blankly. "I call this meeting adjourned. The Leader of the Opposition will move to his office and remain there until a thorough check has been made. I think it's safe to say that Gohol will be remaining his position."

The crowd's heads turned to look at Gohol silently. A few moments later, a single person started clapping, followed by another, until the entire chamber was applaud to him. Champio stormed out of the Circle of Politicians as a smile grew on Gohol's face for the first time since Champio became the Leader of the Opposition.

* * *

><p>"Ratchet, look!" Corrina exclaimed, after half an hour wandering around the island. She had spotted a glint of light blue in amongst the small forest, and after a closer look, she knew it was a hot spring. "Come on!"<p>

Ratchet was lagging severely behind, having tripped over a few rocks on the way, and spraining his ankle. He was holding Wormy, although it was basically dragging him because of the Worm-droid's eagerness to get to the hot spring.

Kyra was the same, reaching out towards the hot spring, acting as sort of a beacon as where they needed to go. Corrina was struggling with controlling her, but didn't lose her cool as she knew that her child was much less difficult than some others. "Why do they both want to go to the hot spring? Is there something important there?"

Ratchet finally caught up with Corrina and gazed at his reflection in the steaming water like a mirror. Wormy jumped out of Ratchet's hand and sped towards the burning water. The Lombax sprinted and rolled, stopping Wormy as he went.

"That water would ruin your circuitry," he tried to explain, his face inches from the ground. Wormy was poised for the moment, and Ratchet decided to test out the fluid. He stretched out his leg, and dipped his toe in the spring.

"Ooooh, that feels nice," Ratchet slurred, closing his eyes. He slid his body down until the knees of his jeans were wet, but strangely he could go any further. Ratchet opened his eyes and looked back. Corrina was standing next to him, one leg on his back, preventing movement. She was giving him an unimpressed stare.

"Oh, fine!" agreed Ratchet and he dragged himself out. As he stood up, he noticed something tiny standing on the adjacent side of the spring. At first he thought it could possibly be Luci, but when he focused, it turned out to be a computer terminal. "Check that out."

Corrina turned her head and finally saw it too. "Hey, I didn't notice that." Before Ratchet could have a chance to respond, Kyra was forced into his arms and Corrina was suddenly sprinting around the water. Ratchet looked down and saw Wormy trying to get past him.

He picked him up and followed the Markazian, albeit slower. When Ratchet finally reached Corrina, he noticed that she was loading a video on the database. "What's this?"

"Something that might explain the hot spring and why Wormy and Kyra want to go in it," she answered, not looking up. "It's loaded." The video started on the small screen of the terminal.

"Channel 31 presents…The Legend of Boldan. As many people know, Boldan is occupied by one giant city, known as Silver City to some. It was named this due to what people consider the "First Worm-droid" whose colour was silver. It is said that the First Worm-droid created the planet, and populated it with Worm-droids until Boldan became known to the galaxy."

"The first settlers from other planets conjured up a prophecy, that in the future, Boldan would be forced into turmoil, and that the First Worm-droid had made Silver City as a spaceship, to help the population escape from this turmoil. However, as it was far into the future, the link to launching this "spaceship" was unknown."

"Hundreds of years later, historians found documents claiming that the link was a hot spring on a far off island, not part of the supposed spaceship. The hot spring itself would not launch the city, but with two special occupants it would. These are claimed to be a Worm-droid with the lime green and black insignia upon it, and the child of a pure heart."

"Many also claim that the two would be attracted to the hot spring when the time of turmoil arises, and would need to be placed in to set it off. This is all speculation, however." At this moment, Corrina turned the video off in silence, her eyes blank.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Ratchet.

"I have a pure heart?" she asked to herself. Ratchet smiled and nodded, before leaning in to kiss her deeply. As they embraced in their tender love, Wormy and Kyra both crawled out of their arms and approached the hot spring.

Corrina quickly whipped her lips away from Ratchet's and looked to the two. "No! Kyra!" As Corrina made it to the shoreline, Kyra had already crawled into the water, and was giggling hysterically. To Corrina's shock, Kyra was quite happy and was splashing the water all around.

Wormy followed her into the spring and again wasn't bothered by the water; any other Worm-droid would surely electrocute.

Ratchet grinned, assuming that everything was happy and fun, until the spring started bubbling. At first it was only for a few seconds before stopping, but then it started again without stopping at all. The couple heard a crash coming from Silver City, and looked over to see it start rising out of the ocean.

Corrina felt a sense of joy, knowing that the lockdown was going to end soon after the spaceship took off, but began to worry when it wouldn't move no more. "What's wrong? It's not moving anymore. Are the buildings too heavy?"

"No," Ratchet answered, worrying the same. "If the buildings were too heavy it would have started lifting up at all. Don't you have binoculars in your backpack?" Corrina shook her head in agreement and took off her bag.

Ratchet caught it after she threw it to him, and he found the binoculars sitting on top of everything inside. He pointed them towards the city and looked around the soil that had been previously submerged. Just as he thought, reinforced metal cables were sticking into Silver City from all sides, keeping it from taking off.

"It seems that Champio is one step ahead of us."

* * *

><p>Champio appeared in the teleporter on his ship, in a mad fury. He knocked over a nearby table and then entered the next room. As he stormed down the corridor inside, he heard a voice that stopped him.<p>

"It looks like you've been defeated." Angela stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room behind him, now wearing her brown coat again.

"You…" Champio spat back, storming towards her. Angela remained calm as Champio grasped her throat with his giant hand, almost touching her chin with it. She started to get worried as he tightened his grip on her furry, yellow neck.

"Let her go. It's over." Gohol appeared in the doorway, his stern expression having returned, but it was understandable.

"Never! She ruined my life! The retards on Silver City deserve to die for what they've done." He let go of Angela's neck to knock a stack of books off a table. "And they shall." Gohol's eyes widened as Champio kicked both him and Angela down, and disappeared into the next room.

"Ahh," winced Angela. "What's he doing?"

"He's going to attack Boldan. I know it." Gohol stumbled himself upright, clutching his stomach in pain. "Miss Cross…I'm getting too old. You need to stop him. He's tied the city to the ocean floor. You probably don't know this but Silver City is actually a spaceship, thanks to the prophecy given when Boldan was first created."

Gohol cried out in anguish. "The prophecy told of a time in turmoil, and this fits it perfectly. Champio knows about it too, and therefore stopped it from taking it off if it was ever launched. However it needs a Worm-droid with I think lime green and black insignia and the child of a pure heart."

Angela thought for a moment. "Oh god! I have to get down there! I know what the key is to making it launch!" She turned on her feet and ran to the door.

"Wait!" Angela almost tripped when Gohol spoke suddenly. "Thank you for putting an end to that horror in the Circle. The galaxy is indebted to you." She grinned and left. In the next corridor, people were scrambling like crazy. Angela managed to stop one of the people.

"What's going on?"

"Didn't you hear? Champio's going to attack Boldan! We have to start manning some guns!" The man ran off. _These people are all messed up! They follow what Champio says no matter what!_

Angela knew that if she was going to leave, it would have to be on an escape pod like Corrina when she was trapped on it. Fortunately, she memorised where the escape pods were due to the map in her office. She entered the nearby elevator and took it down to the second level of the ship.

Employees were scrambling even more now because the second level also happened to be were the main turrets were commanded. After weaving through a few corridors, Angela came to the escape pod room, and noticed that new ones had been installed after Corrina's escape.

"Okay, let's see if I can work this baby out," she muttered, wandering to one of the escape pod terminals. She pressed a few buttons randomly and the security door opened, revealing the entrance to the pod. "One step at a time.

Angela slid down to the door and pulled it open using a manual mechanism. Awkwardly, she misplaced her footing and tumbled into the pod until she pressed up against the glass at the bottom. Fighting the pain, she then climbed back up and closed the pod door.

"Now how do I launch?" Angela looked around, taking her coat off from the heat and eventually found the tiny box on the wall. Opening it, she was presented with two buttons, like Corrina. Randomly, she pressed the left button and the security door closed.

"Awesome. The other one does…" Her finger slammed down on it, and the escape pod rumbled as the door in front opened and it slid down a few metres. The engine fired up and exhaust appeared around the door. Whatever was holding the pod let go and Angela rocketed off into space.

* * *

><p>"Okay, I've decided what to do." Ratchet and Corrina lay under a palm tree, pondering about how they were going to let Silver City take off.<p>

"What's that?" Corrina asked, snuggling up next to the topless Lombax.

"I'm going to grab my O2 Mask and my Hydro...Oh, that's right, Clank's not with me. I'll just have to swim down to one of the cable links on the ocean floor and untie it. One let loose should be enough for the city to break the rest."

"Are you sure?" asked Corrina. "And what will I do with Wormy and Kyra?"

"Yes, I'm sure, and I want you to go back to Silver City through the tunnel, inform the citizens of what is happening, and wait to be released with the others." Corrina shook her head.

"I want to help."

"…Maybe you can destroy some droids." Ratchet slipped off his backpack and looked inside it for the O2 Mask. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Oh, look. I've survived the Clock Tower, a whole freaking battling tournament, and the gravity maze! I'm invincible! How can I really, REALLY help?" Ratchet looked back up at her, having found the O2 Mask, and smiled.

"You can help by staying beautiful." Ratchet squeezed the O2 Mask onto his head, and began to walk towards the shore. At that moment, a blast of laser fire blew away the sand near Ratchet's feet. "What the-"

The two looked up and saw Champio's ship entering the atmosphere, madly spraying bullets all over the city. Corrina pulled out her gun from behind her back. "This is how I can really help. Go, Ratchet. I can handle them."

Ratchet looked up one final time, and saw some kind of ship coming towards them. As it came closer, he was able to tell it was an escape pod. "Corrina, look out!" The pod, however, veered off and landed with a rumbling explosion on the other side of the island.

"That didn't sound good…" Corrina said as she began to run around the shoreline. Ratchet followed her, and five minutes later the pod came into sight. Corrina gasped as she saw a bloody Angela hanging out of the door, unconscious. "It's Angela!"

The two ran even faster and crouched down next to the Lombax, pulling her fully out of the smouldering pod. "Get the first-aid kit out!" Corrina took off Angela's backpack and searched for it. Ratchet took his O2 Mask off.

"Ratchet, you go and untie the city. I can take care of Angela. Leave your backpack behind though."

"Are you sure?" He took off his backpack anyway, and threw it over to where Angela's was.

"Very sure." Corrina gave him a quick kiss, an auburn hair tickling him. Ratchet grinned and put his O2 Mask back on, and then dived into the ocean.


	16. The Hot Spring

_Chapter 16: The Hot Spring_

Sharks swarmed around the Lombax, whose fur was soaked as he swam further and further down into the bottom of Silver City's ocean. Ratchet managed to find the extremely strong tether right near the surface of the water, and followed it down.

Ratchet plunged deeper and deeper down, whacking the sharks away with his wrench, something he had never been able to do before. It began to harder to swim due to the pressure increasing. He tried to remind himself to come back up slower due to the constant change in pressure, otherwise he could suffer from brain damage.

Another shark came from behind him, but Ratchet could feel the ripples in the water and swung his wrench around, colliding with its lips. Ratchet dived again before the shark could follow, and it instead crashed into another that could smell Ratchet's blood.

Suddenly the current picked up as the Lombax descended further and it hurtled Ratchet into the metallic tether. "Aargh!" He readjusted his O2 Mask and noticed that the current was actually starting to push him down. "Yes!" It would now be easier to get down to the ocean floor and let the tether loose. As Ratchet began to swim off again, he found that he wasn't moving anywhere.

Looking back, he realised that a loose bit of the tether had caught itself in his belt, and wouldn't let him go. More sharks had found Ratchet and were now circling him, getting ready to eat their lunch. Ratchet grabbed his belt and pulled it over the piece of loose tether, freeing him.

However, the sharks were very near and almost ready to grab their feed. Ratchet took out a plasmite bomb off of his belt, remembering the events in which he had got it.

"_Ratchet, wait!" Corrina exclaimed as the Lombax dived into the ocean. She thought he had not heard her and turned back to take care of Angela. A splashing sound darted her head back and she saw the O2 Mask floating on the surface, with Ratchet's inside._

"_Take this!" Corrina ran to the shoreline and threw a plasmite bomb to Ratchet, who caught it and plunged under the ocean as he went._

Ratchet pressed the button on the top of the bomb, and left it floating in the water. He waited for the sharks to turn on him and get closer, and he quickly kicked off the tether and dived down. The explosion turned the blue sea red with shark blood and pushed Ratchet down even further down into the ocean.

He laughed in joy, his eyes closed until he felt a thump stopping him from going any further. Ratchet opened his eyes. The ocean floor sat in front of him, along with a gigantic metal circular anchor embedded in it, with a tether tied on.

* * *

><p>Corrina was surprised to see Eric plunge out of the island's forest, with shock on his face. "Eric?"<p>

"Corrina, I didn't know that sewer system led all the way out here!" he yelled. He breathed out heavily. "Where's Kyra?"

"Kyra?" Corrina repeated. "Uhhhh…In the hot spring! With Wormy. I forgot all about them because of the Angela." She looked over at the unconscious Lombax. "Hey, it's too dangerous for Kyra. You should do what we originally planned and take them both to your home."

"Okay, but it's not going to be much safe with the bombardment and everything," Eric replied, and he ran off back into the forest. Corrina walked away from Angela to the water with her backpack.

"C-Corrina," Angela rasped. Corrina looked over at the female Lombax from the shoreline as she dampened a rag.

"Angela, I'm here!" she yelled, running over to the almost lifeless body, not too far away from the escape pod wreckage. "You okay?" Corrina placed the damp rag on Angela's forehead, and looked at the severe wound on her arm which had a bandage wrapped around it.

"I'm…not sure. What's all that gunfire?" Angela managed to look at the bandage on her arm, and made a disappointing groan.

"Champio's attacking the city for some reason! We're currently on an island, and we don't know a quick to get back and fight! Ratchet and I have found out that Silver City is actually a spaceship and-"

"I know, I know!" groaned Angela quickly. "I defeated Champio's chances of becoming Galactic President. That's the reason I betrayed you guys. Gohol told me all about Silver City, and told me to stop him. A lot of good that did."

"Come on," said Corrina, helping Angela up. "Your injuries aren't that bad. You can still use a gun." The Markazian slipped a tiny pistol into Angela's unhurt hand. "I found it in the supplies trunk in the pod."

"Alright," Angela answered back. "But where's Ratchet?"

"Oh, he's going down to the ocean floor to untie some tethers that are keeping Silver City from taking off. Champio put them there."

"Oh, I see. Was there anything else in the supplies trunk?"

"Not much," replied Corrina. "The only thing that was useful was the gun and a plasmite bomb that I gave to Ratchet. Now, should we find a way off this rock and into the action." She noticed that Angela was extremely focused on the pistol that was given to her.

"Corrina…" Angela began, but too concentrated to finish her sentence.

"What's up?"

"I think…" Angela took a piece under the barrel out and screwed it into the barrel, and then fired it at the ground. Corrina expected a bullet to pop out, but a traversal rope came out instead, burying itself in the sand. "Well, this is a development."

Angela pressed the trigger again, and the gun moved towards the rope, retracting it while getting closer. "I wonder if it can stretch far enough to get us to Silver City," Corrina said. The two girls moved around the island until they were closest to the island that wasn't too far away.

"What should I aim at?" asked Angela.

"Ummm, try that building on the right," Corrina responded. Angela nodded and aimed her pistol steady. Corrina jumped at the sound of the rope firing and watched as it extended further and further, getting closer and closer to Silver City.

Angela felt a sense of disappointment when the cable stopped extending and thought it hadn't travelled far enough, but was shocked when the cable did not go limp. It could only mean one thing. "Grab on, and tightly!" Corrina laughed unbelievably and she wrapped her arms around Angela's back.

"Let's go!" she said, her auburn flowing behind her. Angela held down the trigger again, and felt the adrenaline run as the two were dragged off the ground and towards Silver City. However, gravity pushed them down to the ocean, but that didn't stop Angela from pulling a piece of Ratchet's armour out of her backpack and using it as a wakeboard on the ocean.

Corrina squealed loudly, unable to handle the excitement, until she realised that they had left Ratchet's backpack on the island. "Ah well," she muttered, the sound of her voice muffled by the rustling wind. The two women neared the rock face of the island, and wondered how they were going to avoid a splat.

The Markazian opened her mouth to voice an idea, but it was too late. The pair had reached the cliff face, but Angela was smart and pulled her balance backwards. Her feet came out of the water and she used the momentum and tug of the cable to run up the dirt.

Corrina and Angela felt the uneasiness in their stomaches as they reached the top and the cable mixed with the momentum lifted them up for a moment. Ratchet's body armour was left floating in the seas of Silver City forever. The two screamed together as their feet touched down and were left running towards the building.

Angela pulled back and tried to slow their impending collision.

"Ahh, this is going to hurt!" yelled Corrina, screwing up her eyes and waiting for the pain. She felt her body getting squashed up against Angela's, but the collision was very little and caused no pain at all. "Are you okay, Angela?"

"Yeah, but my injuries hurt a bit," Angela said, separating from Corrina and feeling the nice cool ground of Silver City again, interrupted by the sounds of destruction around them. "So, are you ready to wreak havoc on these political bastards?"

Smiling, Corrina nodded.

* * *

><p>Ratchet unstrapped Guy Milligan's saw gun off of his belt and held it right near the point where the tether met the anchor. He activated it, and watched as the spinning blade produced bubbles in the water around them. Ratchet was mildly amused by this, but that didn't deter him from beginning to slice the tether.<p>

Sparks flew as the blade slowly pushed into the tough metal, currently making a small indent. Sharks began to swarm around, but none dared to go near the fearsome blade. Ratchet looked around the almost scared sharks and poked his tongue at them. The Lombax could feel the pressure on him from the ocean water, but tried to ignore it and focus on the cutting blade.

"This is going to take awhile," he said, although his voice was not heard by anyone, not even himself.

* * *

><p>Corrina fired her guard's gun madly at the group of lockdown guards that had found Angela and her. It had been only a few minutes after the two had touched back down in Silver City, and already they had been spotted. Angela held her pistol out and fired short red beams at any of the guard's that came close to her or Corrina.<p>

Angela noticed almost immediately that the numbers of robots were diminishing, and in a matter of a few seconds, only about fifteen remained. "This is easier than I thought." Corrina and Angela fired again and again until there were only a few left.

"You have a choice," Corrina said, motioning for Angela to stop shooting. "Either run…or die." Without hesitating, the remaining guards fled, however Corrina suspected they were only retreating for reinforcements. "So do you have a plan?"

"Yes, I do," Angela responded. "When I was looking at the tourist attractions the first time I came to Silver City, one interested me the most. This was the old Control Bunker in the centre of the city. There seemed to be controls there that piloted a ship, yet it was for a city…"

"Therefore the Control Bunker is the cockpit for the Silver City spaceship!" Corrina exclaimed. "It's all so obvious! But how to get there?"

"It's simple, really. Just lead away from the ocean." Corrina grinned and nodded. The two began to make their journey, making sure they were walking away from the ocean. After a few minutes in silence, with the occasional run-in with a lockdown guard, Angela spoke. "So how have things been with Ratchet?"

"Oh, I suppose it's been good but we can't really blossom with this going on." Corrina waved her hand around, presenting the burning buildings and objects and craters that left the wounds of the attacks on the city. The continuous rain of bullets that showered on the planet had been a serious threat to the two women, but they had somehow been able to avoid it.

"Hopefully it will be over soon," Angela said. "I'm sick of this so much." The Lombax clenched her fists and started to breathe heavily. "Let's go! Now!" Corrina fearfully nodded, and tailed her. Angela marched in between to buildings and down the alleyway they created.

As they reached a crossroad in the lane that involved two more towers, Angela tried to backtrack in her mind and find out how close they were. She knew that it didn't matter were they started, as the ocean was behind them either way, and they headed away from it, always leading to the centre. The ocean was currently nowhere near, and they had been walking in a straight line and now they were about halfway across the metropolis.

However, the Control Bunker was nowhere to be seen. "Where is it?" Angela asked. Corrina shook her head dumbfounded and looked around.

"We weren't exactly in the middle of the edge that we came from. I think we were a little bit to the left," Corrina finally said.

"In that case, we should go right." The Markazian opened her mouth to speak, but Angela had already made up her mind and trudged down the alley on the right. Three more lockdown guards appeared, but they were swiftly dealt with by their own allies as a bomb crashed down on them.

Corrina stepped in front of Angela and shielded her from the explosion with her back facing the growing ball. Angela would have been scorched otherwise from the fireball that enveloped them. The two women coughed and spluttered as the dust cleared, and the three droids were nowhere to be seen, replaced by the gaping hole in the concrete.

"How…how did we survive that?" Angela croaked, panting deeply. Corrina let the Lombax go and smiled.

"I took a survival course in my teenage years. One the lessons was about how to survive explosions. They taught me that it was best to have your back facing the explosion so it wouldn't scorch your face or limbs, and that it helped to have something on your back protecting you." She stuck her thumb at the backpack.

Angela nodded, as if to say "typical", and randomly looked around. "Hey!" Angela stared past the crater that blew out some of the walls of the buildings beside it, revealing the side of another small building behind it. She could make out the words "Control Bunker" inscripted on it.

* * *

><p>The tether snapped so sudden that Ratchet didn't have time to respond. The cable lifted upwards, scraping his furry chin as it flung. The earth on Silver City shifted as rose up higher, trying to break free. Ratchet had finally cut through the tether with Guy's saw gun, leaving him alone with the anchor.<p>

"Great. Now all I have to do is slowly make my way up," Ratchet said to himself. "I hope the other cables can last long enough for me to get on the city." Ratchet decided as to not get bored while slowly swimming back up, he would explore a bit as he went.

The sharks around came a bit closer, and followed him as he swam upwards about five metres, but never came too close to the saw gun. Ratchet knew that he would have to wait five or ten minutes for it to be safe to climb higher, and therefore swam forward to break the boredom.

The Lombax pushed forward for around five minutes mindlessly with almost no difference in the deep blue. The liquid began to turn dark, but Ratchet didn't notice it one bit…until his head smashed into a wall. Ratchet pushed back and looked up and down, taking note of the brown rocky barrier.

_A cave_, he thought. Ratchet placed hands on the rocky formation and pushed himself around it, looking for the entrance. A shark came close and Ratchet took no hesitation to rev the saw gun up. The shark made a growling sound and disappeared quickly. Ratchet held the saw gun beside him, and spontaneously felt it being pushed up out of his hand.

The sharks watched intently at this, and knew that now because he longer had the gun, they could get close. Ratchet quickly tried to figure out what happened, and saw a tornado of bubbles right next to the entrance of the cavern. _Don't tell me it's a…vertical displacement vortex! _Vertical displacement vortexes were common in the seas of Boldan. These vortexes pushed whatever was inside upwards quickly without causing any damage, due to low amount of pressure inside.

With sharks circling him, Ratchet had no choice, and stepped into the vortex. Ratchet laughed uncomfortably as his body was lifted upwards, as if he was floating on top of the water, and could somehow catch some oxygen in the vortex. He looked up and noticed the saw gun soaring high above him.

Ratchet smiled, and closed his eyes to let the current carry him up. He heard a splashing sound, and felt the O2 Mask have less pressure on his head, and when he opened his eyes, he was out in sunlight. Ratchet took the O2 Mask off, and considered the air on his face to be refreshing.

He pushed himself upright and trekked in the ocean, looking at his surroundings. The island he had come from was a short swim behind him, except there was something there that he didn't notice before. Protruding from the small area that Ratchet and Corrina had not covered when on the island was an almost camouflaged grind rail.

"That wasn't there before…" Ratchet muttered, swimming breaststroke over towards the sand. The Lombax could feel his arms weaken faster and faster as the island came closer. He felt the water getting shallower, and stood up when his feet touched the earth.

Ratchet trudged up out of the water and lay down nearly immediately. "Ahh…" He felt the small waves of water coming up to tickle his feet. Corrina and Angela were nowhere to be seen, so he guessed that they had somehow reached Silver City, and the wreckage of the escape pod had been extinguished.

Ratchet began to devise a plan on how he was going to get to Silver City to join the fight. Eventually, he decided that he was going to see if his backpack was still at the wreckage to get the Grind Boots. He would then grind the rail (which would almost have to lead to Silver City) all the way to join the fight.

Hopeful, Ratchet walked around the length of the island until the escape pod poked out from behind the trees. And sitting next to it was a yellow and green backpack. Ratchet made a grunt that remotely sounded like he was saying "YES!", and sprinted to the bag. He unzipped it, and looked inside. He could spot one boot poking out the top, and pulled it out.

The second boot, however, was at the bottom, and it took a lot of pain on the arms to pull it out. Joyous, Ratchet took one last look at the much larger island, but his smile faded. A tether in plain sight from the island snapped, the strain too much for it. It wasn't alone, however, as another snapped nearby, and the snapping continued until the city was no longer restrain. The island rose up slowly, pushing itself out of the ocean.

Ratchet realised that Silver City was taking off without him.

* * *

><p>The inside of the Control Bunker was everything you'd expect a cockpit to be, minus the windshield. Corrina and Angela walked down the steps presented to them when they opened the door, and were led into a dark bunker, lit up by the cockpit controls.<p>

"You know how to work these things?" Corrina asked, pulling a small torch from her belt to help her see.

"Is Qwark an idiot?" Angela replied, but only got a confused look back. "Of course I do! I once piloted my own lab through the skies of Aranos." Angela looked around, and found a light switch on the back wall. Corrina felt dumb when the room was fully lit up, and she was holding a torch.

The dim lights that Angela turned off revealed a large screen at the front of the room. "What do you suppose that's for?" asked Corrina. Angela sat down in one of the six chairs spread across the two rows of machinery and randomly flicked a switch. The screen sprang to life, displaying a grid hologram of the atmosphere of Boldan and the Silver City spaceship below.

"That," Angela said. Corrina looked around at some of the panels that showed all sorts of readings she didn't understand. However one of the panels had a screen that remained blank. Angela focused on the large screen in front of her, and noticed that the icon that represented Silver City was moving upwards, towards a large red cigar-shape just inside the atmosphere.

"Looks like we're taking off!" Angela exclaimed. "Ratchet must have broken the tether."

"I hope he made it back on the city…" Corrina replied, her attention grabbed the smaller motionless screen. She pressed a nearby button, and static crackled on the monitor, slowly followed by a mediocre-looking woman wearing a red shirt. Sitting on a chair, she peered towards Corrina, and then looked to her right.

The woman stood up and walked out of the display's view, leaving Angela alone. A few moments later, someone else sat on the chair. Someone who was grinning insidiously. Champio.

"I suspected you'd eventually find this bunker," he said. "There's nothing you can do to stop me. I'll destroy this city before you can launch it."

"So you've known about this place all along," replied Corrina, motioning for Angela to come to her.

"Oh, so it's the traitor," Champio said back, the emotion in his voice changing with every word. "So where's your little Lombax friend? Dead, I hope."

"Actually, he just went underwater and untethered Silver City, so this ship is launching as we speak…straight towards yours," Angela finally spoke.

"WHAT?" Champio stared viciously at the two, making them uncomfortable. Corrina finally grew to it, and regained her confidence.

"This is your final stand, Champio. Step down or be stepped on."


	17. Grind For the Future

_Chapter 17: Grind for the Future_

Ratchet strapped on his Grind Boots and stepped towards the grind rail that he was faced with, his backpack hanging behind him. He had no time to spare, as Silver City was taking off with every second of clock. He made sure that he was going to step his foot onto the rail, because it was so hard to see its blue colour against the ocean.

Ratchet felt the grind rail catch and cling to the boot, and before it could carry him away, he placed the other shoe on it and let it pull him forward. He had to keep his focus on the rail, as it could transfer over to another one at any time. The sun began to set, leaving a grey feel to the sadly spectacular view of the fire and explosions on the massive island in front of him.

The view of the city tried to distract Ratchet's focus, but he made sure that he could see the grind rail at all times. Messages carried panic to his brain as his eyes caught sight of the grind rail suddenly ending, and Ratchet instinctively leaped. He felt as if everything was in slow-motion as his spotted a second rail to the right and aimed his feet towards it.

Ratchet's body rattled as his Grind Boots collided and attached themselves to the second rail. At this point, the rail had arched so that it was facing the city taking off in the near distance. The rockets underneath the city were slowly pushing its heavy weight up, which would become no problem once it was out of the atmosphere.

He jumped over a few more gaps in the rail, and began to ponder about how they were actually floating in the air. However, there was no time to do that, as a few lockdown guards on the city noticed the approaching Lombax. They performed something that Ratchet had never seen before; the guards fired up two rockets attached to their backs and jettisoned into the air.

Ratchet swung his wrench out from behind his back, and waited as they came closer. One guard fired an energy pulse as it drifted towards Ratchet, but the Lombax was skilled enough to whack away, changing its direction towards a robot that had just noticed him, and was beginning to jetpack over as well.

As the energy pulse covered the guard in smoke, two others had come into close range with Ratchet. Almost missing a jump, he managed to attack one of the guards easily, sending it into the ocean. The other guard grabbed onto Ratchet, but no matter how much he shook, it wouldn't let go.

He eventually had to jump again, but this time, when he landed, he positioned himself so that the guard was crushed in between. Ratchet felt a spray of nuts and bolts on his face as the robot's metallic body was compressed like a soda can. As the Lombax fell past the rail, he used his wrench keep him hanging like on a zipline.

Ratchet used the momentum to launch himself upwards and he landed perfectly once again. He looked around for the other guard, the one that had fired the energy pulse, but it was nowhere to be seen. Silver City was definitely looming nearer, as the rock face was filling Ratchet's vision.

When Ratchet reached the end of the final grind rail, he was thankful that it arched upwards, probably meaning that it originally led up to a higher platform. Now it only led to just under the shoreline of the city. Ratchet positioned himself into a pose that produced the least drag, and prepared to jump.

He felt his body felt more pressurised as he pushed up the rail. Ratchet intensively watched the end of the line as it drew closer, and poised his legs into a jumping position. When he felt his feet leave the rail, he leaped upwards and stretched his arms out towards the city. He closed his eyes and waited for his limbs to connect with something.

A rocky surface brushed Ratchet's hands, and he instinctively closed them, feeling like throwing up when his momentum stopped. The Lombax slowly opened his eyelids and looked upwards. He was hanging off an indent in the previous submerged part of the city, with the surface a couple of jumps above.

Ratchet reached out with one of his arms and grabbed a higher indent. He repeated this technique until he could reach the cliff face. He pulled himself up and thrusted his legs onto the marble platform, and rolled away from the edge. The feeling of the marble road was relieving for Ratchet, just to finally be on solid ground.

Now all he had to do was find Corrina and Angela.

* * *

><p>"So, Champio, what's your decision?" asked Corrina, smiling at the growing anger on Champio's face. He just stared at them without giving a response. "What's the matter? Cat's got your tongue?"<p>

"_I hate it when people say that!_" exclaimed Champio immediately. Corrina went quiet, but still eyed Champio off happily.

"Angela, go find out how long until impact, will you please?" The female Lombax nodded her head and went to search around the other panels. Corrina turned her attention back to the sweating politicians. "You still have a chance. You can still turn yourself in and stop this _ridiculous_ attack!"

"Six minutes until impact," Angela interrupted, when a flash of light from the top of the stairs blinded her. Corrina could feel the light pressing on her, but didn't turn away from the screen. Angela, however, watched as her Lombax counterpart glided down the steps towards them, his furry ears bouncing about.

"Took you long enough," sneered Corrina, without even looking at Ratchet. The door behind all of them closed, and Angela could see more as a result.

"How did you find us here so easily?" Angela asked.

"Well, firstly, I found the piece of my armour," Ratchet began. "Thank you very much for taking such _good_ care of it." Corrina felt a little bad. "I knew you'd somehow try to make sure this thing was taking off, and then I found a pamphlet about this place called the Control Bunker. You can guess the rest from there."

"Humph, typical," growled Champio. "The final piece of the puzzle has finally arrived."

"BAH!" yelled Ratchet, who then jumped and fell on the ground. "Whose that?" He stood up and looked at the computer screen. "Oh, it's just Champio. That's the most he's ever scared me. What do you mean by final piece of the puzzle?"

"I knew when you started opposing me, I had already lost," revealed Champio. "No-one has ever lost to you, Ratchet. Someone as powerful as Drek or someone as dangerously stupid as Qwark; none can stand up to you. You're possibly the most powerful being in the universe. No wonder Lombaxes are rare."

"…You knew you were going to lose?" asked Corrina after a moment of shocked silence.

"Of course. I knew that somehow – someway – Ratchet would defeat me. All I've been trying to do is delay the inevitable. However, you might as well destroy my ship. I'm not going to move it…I told everyone to evacuate in the escape pods."

Angela looked down sadly. "Maybe we should spare his life…"

"No," said Ratchet bluntly. "If we let him live, he'll escape the authorities and try again. I can tell he's lying. No-one that is willing to destroy a whole planet can commend a hero without it being a ruse."

"I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!" Champio boomed, and Corrina was no longer able to tell if it was sweat pouring down his face into his neck brace or tears. Angela looked over at the countdown.

"Three minutes…" These were the last words heard for a complete minute, with everything thinking about the morals.

"Wouldn't a fancy politician have a private escape pod on a ship such as yours?" asked Corrina. "Or just move the ship?"

"No…" Champio announced. "The Circle of Politicians sent a spy to cut my engines due to my crimes. You know, so they can arrest me without escaping. They also disabled the escape pod, and I can't use any of the others because they're gone."

"Okay, Ratchet," said Corrina. "Let's stop the city from destroying the ship. He can't escape if we do."

"There is one fatal flaw in stopping Silver City while it's still in the atmosphere," Angela stated. "The whole city will drop from the sky, flooding it while it lands. That, combined with the force of the drop, will kill us all."

"And that's why I must die." Champio looked solemnly at the three.

"No," Corrina said. "You can still live. You might remember your helicopter?"

"Hey…" Champio exclaimed with hope. "You're right! There's still time!"

"Go!" yelled Corrina excitedly. Champio turned off his end of the screen and left them with a black screen.

"Why did you do that?" yelled Ratchet. "You're setting him free!"

"Really, Ratchet?" asked Corrina. "A puny little helicopter can escape a beast like Silver City?" Ratchet's angry face turned into an evil smile.

"Twenty seconds," Angela announced.

"Come on, he should have gotten out by this," Corrina anxiously said, searching for another blip on the huge radar. Suddenly, the screen in front of Corrina turned on again.

"I lied," said Champio, appearing on the screen.

"What are you doing?" yelled Corrina nervously. "You should be escaping!"

"Ten seconds."

"The captain must go down with the ship," Champio believed.

"But you'll die!" Corrina screamed.

"Five seconds."

Champio looked at the three solemnly, and then smiled.

"Ah, well." A green line appeared around the Silver City icon on the radar – obviously a forcefield and oxygen field in one – and overlapped the yellow oval. Static filled the small screen, and the yellow oval disappeared from the radar.

Corrina began to break down, in a mix between crying and struggling to breathe. "It's over, Corrina. It's over," Ratchet assured.

Now the only thing they could do was watch as the Silver City icon slowly broke through the yellow line around Boldan, symbolising the field. The line disappeared as the icon moved through it, out into the stars.

* * *

><p>Corrina and Gohol stood in front of a large white political ship. People were all around, both getting ready to evacuate the city, which was currently lit up by the planets and stars around them and marvelling at the now successful Galactic President. Ratchet and Angela stood near the two, both relieved that the whole conflict was finally over.<p>

Reporters streamed around the four, holding their microphones. "Mr. President, can you tell us about these three people?" Gohol smiled, expecting questions.

"Well, everyone knows who Ratchet is," he said. "He's saved two galaxies, including ours. The other furry friend some familiar with Megacorp may know as Angela Cross. She helped stop the Protopet invasion. And this nobody here you should be commending the most: Corrina Tars."

A roar went through the crowd. "Mr. President, how is Silver City currently in space?" another reporter piped.

"It's all the result of a legend. I won't explain it all, but part of it says that it was predicted that Silver City would one day go under a period of turmoil, and so they built the city into a spaceship to escape it."

"What happened to the other two people who were reported helping the cause?" Gohol kept silent.

"Yeah, where's the dark-haired man that messaged us through the computer system?" a woman asked.

"They…lost their lives as a result of Champio's reign," Ratchet answered for the political leader. The woman's smile turned to a frown as everyone fell silent.

"Where are the bodies of Luci Ganley and Guy Milligan?" Gohol whispered to Ratchet/

"Luci is in a casket at sea, while…Guy is still in the Gravitron Building," Ratchet replied.

"They will be given hero's funerals," announced Gohol, and the crowd clapped respectively.

"What was the fate of Champio?" asked another news reporter, this one being Darla Gratch.

"He perished when Silver City destroyed his ship. I heard that it was possible he could have escaped, but he chose to take his own life. Anyway, enough questions. All will be explained in the next few days. We need everyone to get onto a transport and leave the city. It could still be dangerous and there are crime scenes that need to be preserved."

The crowd all nodded in unison, and began to disperse. However, one passionate young reporter remained and walked up to the old Galactic President.

"Mr. President, sir. I have one final question to ask. Technically, these heroes committed a series of crimes, such as stealing, breaking and entering, and hacking. Will they be punished?"

"That is a very good question. Sometimes, to oppose those who a breaking the law, you have to do the same. However, these crimes were committed with good intentions, and I'm sure any damage will be paid for. Instead, these heroes will be rewarded with a medal. Thank you." The reporter smiled, and headed for a transport.

As Ratchet watched the reporter scuttling away, he felt a tug on his shoulder. He turned around to see Corrina's face, who led him away from Gohol and Angela. "What is it?" he asked. Before Corrina's response, he noticed that she had Kyra back in her arms.

"I..." Corrina teared up a bit. "I…I think we shouldn't see each other anymore."

"What? Why?" Ratchet asked anxious and confused.

"Being in a relationship with a galactic hero will obviously result in me getting kidnapped, like a damsel in distress. While I would love the excitement, it's too dangerous for Kyra. She's only just started her life, and I'm a single mother, so if I get involved in these adventures, it'll just diminish our relationship as mother and daughter."

Ratchet fell silent for a few moments. "I understand. But I'll never forget you."

"Not after tonight," Corrina said with a cheeky smile on her face. "Gohol has given us a first-class private transport for us to use."

"You and Angela can go," Ratchet replied as Angela approached the couple. "I need to get back to the Star Explorer and pay Clank a visit. Then I'll be spending the night with Corrina. Where are you two going to be staying?"

"Gohol has offered to give us five star hotel rooms on Endako for as long as we need them. He's also offered to get the rest of our things from our apartments," Corrina answered. "Here's the address for my hotel room." The Markazian handed Ratchet a scrap of paper with writing on it.

Corrina walked over towards Gohol, who was standing in front of the political transport to enquire about its features. Ratchet turned to Angela, who smiled and gave him a tight hug.

"I can't believe it's finally over!" she exclaimed as she tightly wrapped her arms around Ratchet. Angela laughed hysterically until she finally let go of her Lombax counterpart. "So what are we going to do now that it's all over?"

"Well…" began Ratchet. " You will probably get back to your job, and I'll spend one final time with Corrina." He noticed the confused look on Angela's face. "We broke up. Long story. After that…I'll rest on Endako for a while with Clank and Corrina, and then continue travelling the universe."

Angela looked hurt that she probably wasn't going to see Ratchet again, but then got an idea. "I think I'll stay in Endako, and move out of Silver City permanently."

"I don't think anyone will stay here anymore," Ratchet replied. "However, I'm pretty sure this place won't be forgotten. I mean, a city that travels the galaxy? Hello? Tourist attraction?" Angela's frown turned upside-down.

"I'll see you at Endako."

Angela noticed at Gohol and Corrina were already inside the transport, and didn't want to leave them waiting. She gave another quick hug to Ratchet and then sprinted off. Ratchet grinned, and then began to walk the direction of the Star Explorer.

"Hey, mister!" yelled a childish voice. Ratchet turned around to see a blonde-haired girl in a tattered brown dress running towards him. The girl stopped at his feet and gave his legs a warm and thankful cuddle. Ratchet felt emotionally touched that someone's thanks as small as a little girl's could be worth more than a medal.

Before Ratchet could say anything back to the girl, she let go and ran away, hopefully back to her mother. Ratchet watched as the girl faded in the distance, and then turned once again towards the Star Explorer.

_There's going to be a lot to tell Clank_.

**THE END**

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, it's the end. Now, I don't usually put these at the end of chapters, but I decided to give something back to all of my reviewers. I will be shouting out all the people who helped this come together as well as it did, and I couldn't thank them enough. I'll be referring to everyone as a he unless I am certain they are female, so don't complain. Here we go:<strong>

**ReaverClank and ArgonianxOrc – has been a friend during my FanFiction writing and is always there to give support. Check out his stories!**

**alaxbird – steadily reviewed Silver City, and always gave support. He could have given some constructive criticism, but I don't think he could find any. Start making some stories!**

**BobbieG59 – gave his opinion, but unfortunately doesn't have an account so I could reply to him, so I'll do it here. I agree it needs a bit more romance, but you can't really make out while being shot at, can you? Create an account!**

**Ratchet Thunderfire – He's a little pissed that I didn't tell him I was starting this story, but now he has a lot to read, and I might start reading some of his if I get the time. Check out his stories!**

**the traveler90 – THANK YOU SO MUCH! This certain reviewers pointed out an error in which Chapter 12 and 13 had the content of chapters 7 and 8. The error has been fix and I can't thank him enough. Start making some stories!**

**Minty S - just had to review the last chapter so I'd have to edit it to include her (I'm assuming it's a her by her profile pic). Grrrrr. Just kidding. The review is much appreciated and it's no hassle to include her. In fact she accidentally reminded me to change my profile poll. Check out her story!  
><strong>

**My mum – for supplying all the coffee I needed to get through an all nighter writing spree.**

**And of course…Haydos271 – he is totally awesome and handsome, and is such a skilled writer. I think I'm falling in love with him. *swoons* Check out his stories…oh wait, you already are.**

**Thank you to all the people who have been reading, and even more to those who reviewed. I will be seeing sometime next year after I complete my FictionPress story. Check that out if you want to. Unfortunately, my next FF story won't be about Ratchet & Clank, but I can always create some oneshots or stories with two or three chapters if you beg. Also, the story I'm doing alongside, "Shipping Delivery", does not count as the next story. Reasons are on my profile and in the story itself.  
><strong>


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